Multifactor productivity growth in the U.S. economy between 1919 and 1929 was almost entirely attributable to advance within manufacturing. Distributing steam power mechanically over shafts and belts required multistory buildings for economical operation. The widespread diffusion of electric...

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- PART I: A NEW GROWTH NARRATIVE -- ONE: The Most Technologically Progressive Decade of the Century -- TWO: The Interwar Years -- THREE: The Second World War -- FOUR: The Golden Age and Beyond -- FIVE: The Information Technology Boom -- SIX: Fin de...

Is there a silver lining to Depression? This paper examines one instance where economic downturn appears to have given a permanent boost to productivity: the U.S. railroad industry during the Depression

This bold re-examination of the history of U.S. economic growth is built around a novel claim, that productive capacity grew dramatically across the Depression years (1929-1941) and that this advance provided the foundation for the economic and military success of the United States during the...

A consideration of TFP growth in the United States during the golden age (1948-73) raises two related questions: on the one hand why was it so strong and on the other hand, why were TFP growth rates lower than they were during the Depression years (1929-41)? A continuing downward trend in TFP...

In the immediate postwar period, Moses Abramovitz and Robert Solow both examined data on output and input growth from the first half of the twentieth century and reached similar conclusions. In the twentieth century, in contrast with the nineteenth, a much smaller fraction of real output growth...