IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v76y2026icp171-182.html

Tracking Detroit business activity with the Yellow Pages 1920–1957

Author

Listed:
  • Anderson, Robert Warren

Abstract

This paper approaches the Great Depression, World War II and the post war boom with a novel dataset: business addresses from the phone book. Using more than 265,000 business year observations from Detroit I create a business count measure to proxy economic activity from 1920 to 1957. While this count is a small subset of all businesses, the over trend is consistent with broader economic movements. Individual industries of taverns, appliances, auto related industries, banks and housing have idiosyncratic fluctuations that reflect prior research. The overall correlation of the total business count with GDP along with distinctive individual industry movements suggests that counting entries from phone books can proxy for economic activity at a city and even industry level. Applying Artificial Intelligence to large scale digitization of phone books in potential future research will yield an annual look at city demographics and economic activity at the address level.

Suggested Citation

  • Anderson, Robert Warren, 2026. "Tracking Detroit business activity with the Yellow Pages 1920–1957," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 171-182.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:76:y:2026:i:c:p:171-182
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2025.12.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X25001936
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2025.12.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jones, Maggie E.C. & Logan, Trevon D. & Rosé, David & Cook, Lisa D., 2024. "Black-Friendly businesses in cities during the Civil Rights Era," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    2. Higgs, Robert, 1992. "Wartime Prosperity? A Reassessment of the U.S. Economy in the 1940s," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(1), pages 41-60, March.
    3. Edward E. Leamer, 2007. "Housing is the business cycle," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 149-233.
    4. Vincent Geloso & Casey Pender, 2023. "The myth of wartime prosperity: Evidence from the Canadian experience," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(4), pages 377-394, July.
    5. Robert C. Allen & Jean-Pascal Bassino & Debin Ma & Christine Moll-Murata & Jan Luiten Van Zanden, 2011. "Wages, prices, and living standards in China, 1738–1925: in comparison with Europe, Japan, and India," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64, pages 8-38, February.
    6. Anderson, Gary M & Shughart, William F, II & Tollison, Robert D, 1990. "A Public Choice Theory of the Great Contraction: Further Evidence," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 277-283, December.
    7. Gary Anderson & William Shughart & Robert Tollison, 1988. "A public choice theory of the great contraction," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 3-23, October.
    8. Niklas Elert & Magnus Henrekson, 2016. "Evasive entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 95-113, June.
    9. Lindert, Peter H. & Williamson, Jeffrey G., 2013. "American Incomes Before and After the Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(3), pages 725-765, September.
    10. Buringh, Eltjo & Campbell, Bruce M.S. & Rijpma, Auke & van Zanden, Jan Luiten, 2020. "Church building and the economy during Europe’s ‘Age of the Cathedrals’, 700–1500 CE," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-351, March.
    12. Poelmans, Eline & Taylor, Jason E. & Raisanen, Samuel & Holt, Andrew C., 2022. "Estimates of employment gains attributable to beer legalization in spring 1933," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Thies Clifford F., 2021. "Expectations of a Post-Wwii Depression," Studia Historiae Oeconomicae, Sciendo, vol. 39(1), pages 145-162, December.
    14. Peter H. Lindert & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2016. "American colonial incomes, 1650–1774," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(1), pages 54-77, February.
    15. Petr Sedláček & Vincent Sterk, 2017. "The Growth Potential of Startups over the Business Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(10), pages 3182-3210, October.
    16. Allen, Robert C., 2001. "The Great Divergence in European Wages and Prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 411-447, October.
    17. Bernanke, Ben S, 1983. "Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in Propagation of the Great Depression," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(3), pages 257-276, June.
    18. Hausman, Joshua K., 2016. "What Was Bad for General Motors Was Bad for America: The Automobile Industry and the 1937/38 Recession," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(2), pages 427-477, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Allen, Robert C., 2014. "American Exceptionalism as a Problem in Global History," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(2), pages 309-350, June.
    2. Cohen, Joseph N & Linton, April, 2010. "The historical relationship between inflation and political rebellion, and what it might teach us about neoliberalism," MPRA Paper 22522, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Boško Mijatović & Branko Milanović, 2021. "The real urban wage in an agricultural economy without landless farmers: Serbia, 1862–1910," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(2), pages 424-448, May.
    4. Ewout Frankema & Marlous van Waijenburg, 2011. "African Real Wages in Asian Perspective, 1880-1940," Working Papers 0002, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.
    5. Vincent Geloso & Peter Lindert, 2020. "Relative costs of living, for richer and poorer, 1688–1914," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 14(3), pages 417-442, September.
    6. Broadberry, Stephen & Ghosal, Sayantan & Proto, Eugenio, 2017. "Anonymity, efficiency wages and technological progress," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 379-394.
    7. Broadberry Stephen, 2012. "Recent Developments in the Theory of Very Long Run Growth: A Historical Appraisal," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 53(1), pages 277-306, May.
    8. van Bavel, Bas, 2016. "The Invisible Hand?: How Market Economies have Emerged and Declined Since AD 500," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199608133.
    9. Kunting Chen, 2012. "Analysis of the Great Divergence under a Unified Endogenous Growth Model," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 13(2), pages 317-353, November.
    10. Pim de Zwart, 2012. "Population, labour and living standards in early modern Ceylon: An empirical contribution to the divergence debate," The Indian Economic & Social History Review, , vol. 49(3), pages 365-398, September.
    11. William F. Shughart II, 2026. "George A. Selgin, False dawn: the New Deal and the promise of recovery, 1933–1947. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2025. xiv + 370 pages. USD 35.00 (hardback)," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 206(3), pages 641-648, March.
    12. James Roumasset, 2020. "Clubs, Coase, and the role of government," Philippine Review of Economics, University of the Philippines School of Economics and Philippine Economic Society, vol. 57(1), pages 1-17, June.
    13. Alicia Gómez-Tello & Alfonso Díez-Minguela & Julio Martinez-Galarraga & Daniel A. Tirado, 2019. "Regional prices in early twentieth-century Spain: a country-product-dummy approach," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 13(2), pages 245-276, May.
    14. Andrés Calderón-Fernández & Héctor García-Montero & Enrique Llopis-Agelán, 2017. "New research guidelines for living standards, consumer baskets, and prices in Madrid and Mexico," Working Papers 097, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    15. Ken Tabata, 2013. "The Expansion of the Commercial Sector and the Child Quantity-Quality Transition in a Malthusian World," Discussion Paper Series 105, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University, revised May 2013.
    16. Dosi, Giovanni & Roventini, Andrea & Russo, Emanuele, 2019. "Endogenous growth and global divergence in a multi-country agent-based model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 101-129.
    17. Mikolaj Malinowski, 2013. "East of Eden: Polish living standards in a European perspective, ca. 1500-1800," Working Papers 0043, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.
    18. Robert C. Allen, 2015. "The high wage economy and the industrial revolution: a restatement," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(1), pages 1-22, February.
    19. Alexander W. Salter & William J. Luther, 2019. "Adaptation and central banking," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 180(3), pages 243-256, September.
    20. Sophia Du Plessis & Stan Du Plessis, 2012. "Happy in the Service of the Company: The Purchasing Power of VOC Salaries at the Cape in the 18th Century," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 125-149.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • N82 - Economic History - - Micro-Business History - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N92 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:76:y:2026:i:c:p:171-182. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/525148 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.