The rise and fall of American growth : the U.S. standard of living since the Civil War / Robert J. Gordon.
2016
HD6983 .G69 2016 (Map It)
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Title
The rise and fall of American growth : the U.S. standard of living since the Civil War / Robert J. Gordon.
Published
Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2016]
Call Number
HD6983 .G69 2016
ISBN
9780691147727 (hardcover ; alk. paper)
0691147728 (hardcover ; alk. paper)
0691147728 (hardcover ; alk. paper)
Description
xii, 762 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.
Other Standard Identifiers
9780691147727
System Control No.
(OCoLC)908084072
Summary
Examines the economic growth of the United States since the Civil War, arguing that the rate of growth between 1870 and 1970 cannot be repeated and that a number of issues are further stagnating the already slow rate of productivity growth.
"In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, home appliances, motor vehicles, air travel, air conditioning, and television transformed households and workplaces. With medical advances, life expectancy between 1870 and 1970 grew from forty-five to seventy-two years. Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth provides an in-depth account of this momentous era. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Gordon challenges the view that economic growth can or will continue unabated, and he demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 can't be repeated. He contends that the nation's productivity growth, which has already slowed to a crawl, will be further held back by the vexing headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government. Gordon warns that the younger generation may be the first in American history that fails to exceed their parents' standard of living, and that rather than depend on the great advances of the past, we must find new solutions to overcome the challenges facing us. A critical voice in the debates over economic stagnation, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come."--Publisher's description.
"In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, home appliances, motor vehicles, air travel, air conditioning, and television transformed households and workplaces. With medical advances, life expectancy between 1870 and 1970 grew from forty-five to seventy-two years. Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth provides an in-depth account of this momentous era. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Gordon challenges the view that economic growth can or will continue unabated, and he demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 can't be repeated. He contends that the nation's productivity growth, which has already slowed to a crawl, will be further held back by the vexing headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government. Gordon warns that the younger generation may be the first in American history that fails to exceed their parents' standard of living, and that rather than depend on the great advances of the past, we must find new solutions to overcome the challenges facing us. A critical voice in the debates over economic stagnation, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come."--Publisher's description.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 667-743) and index.
Available in Other Form
Erscheint auch als Gordon, Robert J., 1940 The rise and fall of American growth Online-Ausgabe
Record Appears in
Table of Contents
Preface
ix
1.
Introduction: The Ascent and Descent of Growth
1
pt. I
1870--1940---THE GREAT INVENTIONS CREATE A REVOLUTION INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE HOME
25
2.
The Starting Point: Life and Work in 1870
27
3.
What They Ate and Wore and Where They Bought It
62
4.
The American Home: From Dark and Isolated to Bright and Networked
94
5.
Motors Overtake Horses and Rail: Inventions and Incremental Improvements
129
6.
From Telegraph to Talkies: Information, Communication, and Entertainment
172
7.
Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Illness and Early Death
206
8.
Working Conditions on the Job and at Home
247
9.
Taking and Mitigating Risks: Consumer Credit, Insurance, and the Government
288
Entr'acte. The Midcentury Shift from Revolution to Evolution
319
pt. II
1940--2015---THE GOLDEN AGE AND THE EARLY WARNINGS OF SLOWER GROWTH
329
10.
Fast Food, Synthetic Fibers, and Split-Level Subdivisions: The Slowing Transformation of Food, Clothing, and Housing
331
11.
See the USA in Your Chevrolet or from a Plane Flying High Above
374
12.
Entertainment and Communications from Milton Berle to the iPhone
409
13.
Computers and the Internet from the Mainframe to Facebook
441
14.
Antibiotics, CT Scans, and the Evolution of Health and Medicine
461
15.
Work, Youth, and Retirement at Home and on the Job
498
Entr'acte. Toward an Understanding of Slower Growth
522
pt. III
THE SOURCES OF FASTER AND SLOWER GROWTH
533
16.
The Great Leap Forward from the 1920s to the 1950s: What Set of Miracles Created It?
535
17.
Innovation: Can the Future Match the Great Inventions of the Past?
566
18.
Inequality and the Other Headwinds: Long-Run American Economic Growth Slows to a Crawl
605
Postscript: America's Growth Achievement and the Path Ahead
641
Acknowledgments
653
Data Appendix
657
Notes
667
References
717
Credits
741
Index
745