Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-20T08:15:01.064Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - North America

The Rise of US Technological and Economic Leadership

from Part I - Regional Developments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2021

By
Paul W. Rhode
Edited by
Stephen Broadberry  and
Kyoji Fukao
Stephen Broadberry
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Kyoji Fukao
Affiliation:
Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo
Get access

Summary

This chapter traces three grand transformations of the North American economy. The first process – the shift from a rural agricultural economy to an urban industrial economy and the emergence of ‘modern economic growth’ – began before 1870. The second process – the shift from growth based on increasing factors of production per person to growth based on enhancing the productivity of the factors – began at the turn of the twentieth century. It was tied to the emergence of the United States as a global economic leader. The third process – the shift from an internally focused industrial economy to a globally integrated, information-based economy – began after 1970. Focusing on these transformations complicates the story of balanced growth common in macro-growth accounts, but is crucial for our understanding of the growth of the North American economy.

Keywords

Economic growthcapital formationstructural transformationindustrial revolutionsinformation economy.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World , pp. 21 - 47
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramovitz, M. and David, P. A. (1973). ‘Reinterpreting Economic Growth: Parables and Realities’, American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 63, 428–439.Google Scholar
Abramovitz, M. and David, P. A. (2001). ‘Two Centuries of American Macroeconomic Growth from Exploitation of Resource Abundance to Knowledge-Driven Development’, Stanford Institute of Economic Research working paper 01–005.Google Scholar
Boustan, L. P., Frydman, C., and Margo, R. A. (eds.) (2014). Human Capital in History: The American Record, University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bresnahan, T. F. and Trajtenberg, M. (1995). ‘General Purpose Technologies “Engines of Growth”?’, Journal of Econometrics 65(1), 83–108.Google Scholar
Broadberry, S. N. (1997). The Productivity Race: British Manufacturing in International Perspective, 1850–1990, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Broadberry, S. N. (2006). Market Services and the Productivity Race, 1850–2000, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, S. et al. (2006). Historical Statistics of the United States, Millennial Edition, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chandler, A. D., Jr. (1962). Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of American Industrial Enterprise, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chandler, A. D. (1965). The Railroads: The Nation’s First Big Business, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.Google Scholar
Chandler, A. D. (1977). The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business, Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Chandler, A. D. (1990). Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
David, P. A. (1990). ‘The Dynamo and the Computer: An Historical Perspective on the Modern Productivity Paradox’, American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 80, 355–361.Google Scholar
David, P. A. and Wright, G. (2003). ‘General Purpose Technologies and Surges in Productivity: Historical Reflections on the Future of the ICT Revolution’, in David, P. and Thomas, M. (eds.), The Economic Future in Historical Perspective, New York: Oxford University Press, 135–166.Google Scholar
Davis, L. E. and Gallman, R. E. (1978). ‘Capital Formation in the United States during the Nineteenth Century’, in Mathias, P. and Postan, M. M. (eds.), Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Vol. 7: The Industrial Economies: Capital, Labour and Enterprise, Pt 2: The United States, Japan and Russia, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1–69.Google Scholar
Field, A. J. (1996). ‘The Relative Productivity of American Distribution, 1869–1992’, Research in Economic History, 16, 1–37.Google Scholar
Field, A. J. (2011). A Great Leap Forward: 1930s Depression and US Economic Growth, New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Fishlow, A. (1966). ‘Productivity and Technological Change in the Railroad Sector, 1840–1910’, in Brady, D. S. (ed.), Output, Employment, and Productivity in the United States after 1800, Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. 30, New York: Columbia University Press, 583–647.Google Scholar
Freeman, J. B. (2018). Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World, New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Gallman, R. E. (1986). ‘The United States Capital Stock in the Nineteenth Century’, in Engerman, S. and Gallman, R. E. (eds.), Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth, University of Chicago Press, 185–206.Google Scholar
Gallman, R. E. (1992). ‘American Economic Growth before the Civil War: The Testimony of the Capital Stock Estimates’, in Gallman, R. E. and Wallis, J. J. (eds.), American Economic Growth and Standard of Living before the Civil War, University of Chicago Press, 79–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallman, R. E. and Rhode, P. W. (2019). Capital in the Nineteenth Century, University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Goldin, C. (1990). Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women, University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Goldin, C. (2001). ‘The Human-Capital Century and American Leadership: Virtues of the Past,’ Journal of Economic History, 61(2), 263–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldin, C. and Katz, L. F. (2008). The Race between Education and Technology, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gordon, R. J. (2016). The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The US Standard of Living since the Civil War, Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harberger, A. (1998). ‘A Vision of the Growth Process’, American Economic Review, 88(1), 1–32.Google Scholar
Jones, C. I. (2016). ‘The Facts of Economic Growth’, Handbook of Macroeconomics, 2A, 3–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaldor, N. (1957). ‘A Model of Economic Growth’, Economic Journal, 67(268), 591–624.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. (1961). ‘Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth’, in Lutz, L. A. and Hague, D. C. (eds.), The Theory of Capital, New York: St Martin’s Press, 177–222.Google Scholar
Kendrick, J. W. (assisted by M. R. Pech) (1961). Productivity Trends in the United States, Princeton University Press for the NBER.Google Scholar
Kuznets, S. (1937). National Income and Capital Formation, 1919–1935, New York: NBER.Google Scholar
Kuznets, S. (assisted by E. Jenks) (1961). Capital in the American Economy: Its Formation and Financing, Princeton University Press for the NBER.Google Scholar
Kuznets, S. (1964). ‘Notes on the Patterns of US Economic Growth’, in Edwards, E. O. (ed.), The Nation’s Economic Objectives, University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lebergott, S. (1966). ‘Labor Force and Employment, 1800–1960’, in Brady, D. S. (ed.), Output, Employment, and Productivity in the United States after 1800, Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. 30, New York: Columbia University Press, 117–204.Google Scholar
Lee, C. and Rhode, P. W. (2018). ‘Manufacturing Growth and Structural Change in American Economic History’, in Cain, L. P., Fishback, P. V., and Rhode, P. W. (eds.), Oxford Handbook of American Economic History, New York: Oxford University Press, 183–212.Google Scholar
Maddison Project Database, version 2013. Bolt, J. and van Zanden, J. L. (2014). ‘The Maddison Project: Collaborative Research on Historical National Accounts’, Economic History Review 67(3), 627–651.Google Scholar
Mokyr, J. (1990). The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nordhaus, W. D. (2007). ‘Two Centuries of Productivity Growth in Computing’, Journal of Economic History, 67(1), 128–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nye, D. E. (2013). America’s Assembly Line, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Olmstead, A. L. and Rhode, P. W. (2008). Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the Twenty-First Century (trans. Arthur Goldhammer), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Piketty, T. and Saez, E. (2003). ‘Income Inequality in the United States, 1913–1998’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118, 1–39.Google Scholar
Piketty, T. and Zucman, G. (2014). ‘Capital Is Back: Wealth–Income Ratios in Rich Countries, 1700–2010’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129, 1255–1310.Google Scholar
Porat, M. U. (1977). The Information Economy: Sources and Methods for Measuring the Primary Information Sector, OT Special Publication, 77-12(1), US Department of Commerce, Office of Telecommunications.Google Scholar
Smil, V. (2005). Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867–1914 and their Lasting Impact, New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smil, V. (2006). Transforming the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations and their Consequences, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Gross Domestic Product and Fixed Assets Accounts, www.bea.gov/ (accessed 29 September 2020).Google Scholar
Wallis, J. J. and North, D. (1986). ‘Measuring the Transaction Sector in the American Economy, 1870–1970’, in Engerman, S. and Gallman, R. E. (eds.), Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth, University of Chicago Press, 95–162.Google Scholar
Wright, G. (2018). ‘Natural Resources in American Economic History’, in Cain, L. P., Fishback, P. V., and Rhode, P. W. (eds.), Oxford Handbook of American Economic History, New York: Oxford University Press, 425–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×