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How Did the United States Become a Net Exporter of Manufactured Goods?

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  • Douglas A. Irwin

Abstract

The United States became a net exporter of manufactured goods around 1910 after a dramatic surge in iron and steel exports began in the mid-1890s. This paper argues that natural resource abundance fueled the expansion of iron and steel exports in part by enabling a sharp reduction in the price of U.S. exports relative to other competitors. The commercial exploitation of the Mesabi iron ore range, for example, reduced domestic ore prices by 60 percent in the mid-1890s and was equivalent to nearly 30 years of industry productivity growth in its effect on iron and steel export prices. The results are consistent with Wright's (1990) finding that U.S. manufactured exports were natural resource intensive at this time and have implications for recent work suggesting that resource abundance may be a curse rather than a blessing for economic development.

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  • Douglas A. Irwin, 2000. "How Did the United States Become a Net Exporter of Manufactured Goods?," NBER Working Papers 7638, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7638
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    2. Anderson, Kym, 1998. "Are resource-abundant economies disadvantaged?," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 42(1), pages 1-23.
    3. Robert E. Lipsey, 1963. "Price and Quantity Trends in the Foreign Trade of the United States," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number lips63-1, March.
    4. Parsons, Donald O & Ray, Edward John, 1975. "The United States Steel Consolidation: The Creation of Market Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(1), pages 181-219, April.
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    7. Irwin, Douglas A & Kroszner, Randall S, 1999. "Interests, Institutions, and Ideology in Securing Policy Change: The Republican Conversion to Trade Liberalization after Smoot-Hawley," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(2), pages 643-673, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ian W. McLean & Alan M. Taylor, 2001. "Australian Growth: A California Perspective," NBER Working Papers 8408, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. William F. Maloney, 2002. "Missed Opportunities: Innovation and Resource-Based Growth in Latin America," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2002), pages 111-168, August.
    3. Lederman, Daniel & Maloney, William F., 2003. "Trade structure and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3025, The World Bank.
    4. Barry Eichengreen & Michael D. Bordo, 2003. "Crises now and then: what lessons from the last era of financial globalization?," Chapters, in: Paul Mizen (ed.), Monetary History, Exchange Rates and Financial Markets, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Douglas A. Irwin, 2000. "Ohlin Versus Stolper-Samuelson?," NBER Working Papers 7641, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Ronald W. Jones & Ronald Findlay, 2001. "Input Trade and the Location of Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 29-33, May.
    7. Domańska Agnieszka & Serwa Dobromił, 2013. "Vulnerability to foreign macroeconomic shocks – an empirical study in cross-industry perspective. Example of 2008–2009 global crisis in Europe," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 13(1), pages 150-173, December.
    8. W.F. Maloney, 2002. "Innovation and Growth in Resource Rich Countries," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 148, Central Bank of Chile.
    9. Eromenko, Igor & Lisenkova, Katerina, 2006. "Impact of joining the WTO on Ukrainian ferrous metallurgy: subsidies vs. antidumping, is there really a trade-off?," MPRA Paper 67477, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Daniel Lederman & William F. Maloney, 2012. "Does What You Export Matter? In Search of Empirical Guidance for Industrial Policies," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 9371, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • N71 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

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