Bibliograph

The rise and fall of American growth, the U.S. standard of living since the Civil War, Robert J. Gordon

Type

Label

The rise and fall of American growth, the U.S. standard of living since the Civil War, Robert J. Gordon

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 717-740) and index

Illustrations

charts

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The rise and fall of American growth

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

908084072

Responsibility statement

Robert J. Gordon

Series statement

The Princeton economic history of the Western world

Sub title

the U.S. standard of living since the Civil War

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

Table Of Contents

Introduction: the ascent and descent of growth -- Part I. 1870-1940--The great inventions create a revolution inside and outside the home. The starting point: life and work in 1870 -- What they ate and wore and where they bought it -- The American home: from dark and isolated to bright and networked -- Motors overtake horses and rail: inventions and incremental improvements -- From telegraph to talkies: information, communication, and entertainment -- Nasty, brutish, and short: illness and early death -- Working conditions on the job and at home -- Taking and mitigating risks: consumer credit, insurance, and the government -- Entr'acte. The midcentury shift from revolution to evolution -- Part II. 1940-2015--The Golden Age and the early warnings of slower growth. Fast food, synthetic fibers, and split-level subdivisions: the slowing transformation of food, clothing, and housing -- See the USA in your Chevrolet or from a plane flying high above -- Entertainment and communications from Milton Berle to the iPhone -- Computers and the internet from the mainframe to Facebook -- Antibiotics, CT scans, and the evolution of health and medicine -- Work, youth, and retirement at home and on the job -- Entr'acte. Toward an understanding of slower growth -- Part III. The sources of faster and slower growth. The great leap forward from the 1920s to the 1950s: what set of miracles created it? -- Innovation: can the future match the great inventions of the past? -- Inequality and the other headwinds: long-run American economic growth slows to a crawl -- Postscript: America's growth achievement and the path ahead

Target audience

adult

Classification