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A comment on "US Economic Growth in the Gilded Age"

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  • Jean Luc De Meulemeester

Abstract

In this paper, we critically assess the contribution of Field (2007) in this issue. The author casts some doubts concerning the exceptionality of the 20th century as experiencing 'growth in the era of knowledge based progress', using new quantitative evidence on the TFP growth on the period 1855-2005, stressing the importance of a proper periodization as well as correcting for biases in earlier assessments by various authors. He shows that the actual TFP growth was rather strong from the 1870s to the first decade of the 20th century, while it was quite low during long periods of the 20th century (1906-1919; 1941-1948; 1973-1989). Field tried to explain this stylized fact using more conventional historical evidence (impact of technological innovation; rise of the Modern Business Enterprise - the latter being favoured by the development of communication technologies). We put forward some methodological discussion concerning the proper meaning of TFP (productivity growth is not the same as technological change) as well as putting the results in a more theoretical perspective (determinants of the periods of high TFP growth). We also stress some elements of a more historical nature not stressed by the author as the role of the State (protectionism, migration policy, R&D...), and more particularly the emergence of the Modern American University during the last three decades of the 19th century.
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Suggested Citation

  • Jean Luc De Meulemeester, 2009. "A comment on "US Economic Growth in the Gilded Age"," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/147670, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/147670
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Field, Alexander J., 2007. "The equipment hypothesis and US economic growth," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 43-58, January.
    2. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 2005. "Growth with Quality-Improving Innovations: An Integrated Framework," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 67-110, Elsevier.
    3. Olmstead, Alan L. & Rhode, Paul W., 2002. "The Red Queen and the Hard Reds: Productivity Growth in American Wheat, 1800–1940," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 62(4), pages 929-966, December.
    4. Field, Alexander J., 1987. "Modern Business Enterprise as a Capital-Saving Innovation," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(2), pages 473-485, June.
    5. John W. Kendrick, 1961. "Productivity Trends in the United States," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kend61-1, March.
    6. Alexander J. Field, 2007. "The origins of US total factor productivity growth in the golden age," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 1(1), pages 63-90, April.
    7. Charles R. Hulten, 1978. "Growth Accounting with Intermediate Inputs," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 45(3), pages 511-518.
    8. Moses Abramovitz, 1956. "Resource and Output Trends in the United States since 1870," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number abra56-1, March.
    9. Field, Alexander J., 2006. "Technological Change and U.S. Productivity Growth in the Interwar Years," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 203-236, March.
    10. Hulten, Charles R, 1975. "Technical Change and the Reproducibility of Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(5), pages 956-965, December.
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    12. Smil, Vaclav, 2005. "Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195168747.
    13. Moses Abramovitz, 1956. "Resource and Output Trends in the United States since 1870," NBER Chapters, in: Resource and Output Trends in the United States since 1870, pages 1-23, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. David, Paul A & Wright, Gavin, 1997. "Increasing Returns and the Genesis of American Resource Abundance," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(2), pages 203-245, March.
    15. Abramovitz, Moses & David, Paul A, 1973. "Reinterpreting Economic Growth: Parables and Realities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 428-439, May.
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