A Great Leap Forward: 1930s Depression and U.S. Economic Growth

by Alexander J. Field Ph.D.

Overview

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 Second World War as well as for the golden age (1948-1973) that followed. 

Alexander J. Field takes a fresh look at growth data and concludes that, behind a backdrop of double-digit unemployment, the 1930s actually experienced very high rates of technological and organizational innovation, fueled by the maturing of a privately funded research and development system and the government-funded build-out of the country's surface road infrastructure. This significant new volume in the Yale Series in Economic and Financial History invites new discussion of the causes and consequences of productivity growth over the last century and a half and on our current prospects.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300188165
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	08/28/2012
Series:	Yale Series in Economic and Financial History
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	14.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Alexander J. Field is the Michel and Mary Orradre Professor of Economics, Santa Clara University, and executive director of the Economic History Association.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Introduction 1

Part I A New Growth Narrative

1 The Most Technologically Progressive Decade of the Century 19

2 The Interwar Years 42

3 The Second World War 79

4 The Golden Age and Beyond 106

5 The Information Technology Boom 121

6 Fin de Siècle: The Late Nineteenth Century in the Mirror of the Twentieth 146

Part II Extensions and Reflections

7 Procyclical TFP 169

8 The Equipment Hypothesis 192

9 General-Purpose Technologies 206

Part III Historical Perspectives On 2007-2010

10 Financial Fragility and Recovery 231

11 Uncontrolled Land Development and the Duration of the Depression 277

12 Do Economic Downturns Have a Silver Lining? 294

Epilogue 312

Appendix. A Brief Description of Growth Accounting Methods 315

Notes 319

Bibliography 351

Index 371

Editorial Reviews

Alex Field in this pathbreaking book overturns one myth after another about American economic history. His most important contribution is to unleash the saga of American economic growth from the simplistic story that investment automatically begets growth. He contrasts the 1920s, with high investment that ended in the collapse of a stock market bubble, with the 1930s when investment had collapsed and yet innovations continued and the world was changed forever. The 1930s ended with foundations of the standard of living lacking 10 years earlier, including streamlined autos with automatic transmissions, a vastly expanded highway network including the Bay Area bridges and the Hoover dam, diesel railroad locomotives replacing steam, and the transcendant revolution in the motion picture industry created by the 1939 productions of "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz." This book will change forever standard views of which decade's growth was most dynamic, and why.”—Robert J. Gordon, Northwestern University

Robert J. Gordon

[P]athbreaking… [t]he ‘new growth narrative’ offered in A Great Leap Forward allows readers to see the familiar in a different way.”—Paul Rhode, eh.net

eh.net

. . . adds new evidence for the productive role of public spending. It also changes our view of what happened in the American economy during the 1930s, when military investment was not a driving force.”—Fred Block, American Prospect

Fred Blockn Prospect

"[O]ne of the most important technical economics books of this decade."—David Henderson,  Policy Review

Policy Review - David Henderson

[O]ne of the best economics books of the last ten years… one of the best books on the Depression era… one of the must-reads of the year.”—Tyler Cowan, Marginal Revolution

Marginal Revolution - Tyler Cowan

"... an exemplary demonstration of how careful and imaginative use of statistical information can revise deeply entrenched ideas about the past…. this book breaks new ground. Teachers of twentieth-century American history should read Field’s book for its totally convincing demolition of the folklore history idea that World War II was good for the American people because it ended the Great Depression and created the basis for the mass consumer prosperity that followed the war." —Ronald Edsforth, Journal of American History

Journal of American History - Ronald Edsforth

Alex Field begins his provocative new book with the proposition that beneath the misery of the Great Depression, the 1930s were in fact “the most technologically progressive decade of the century.” This counterintuitive finding launches Field on a vigorous new interpretation of U.S. economic history in the twentieth century. His narrative is firmly rooted in the quantitative record, yet always accessible and full of surprises. Everyone concerned about the American economy (past and present) should read this book.”—Gavin Wright, Stanford University

Gavin Wright

Field poses and attempts to answer interesting questions using straightforward number-crunching and reasoning, rather than resorting to obscure mathematics or advanced statistics. The result is a book that represents the best of what economics can be.”—Arnold Kling, The American

The American - Arnold Kling

Field has written a fine, well-argued book on the history of productivity in the United States, with a focus on the Great Depression. Was the Depression caused by an adverse productivity shock? Or was rapid productivity in the 1930s caused by the Depression? Everyone interested in the Depression or in technology shocks as important short-run macroeconomic events should read this book.”—Peter Temin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Peter Temin

Fundamentally rewrite[s] the economic history of the US….Highly recommended.”—Choice

Choice

"An extraordinary new book . . ."—James Surowiecki, The New Yorker

The New Yorker - James Surowiecki

"According to Alexander Field in A Great Leap Forward, the 1930s were, in the aggregate, the most technologically progressive of any comparable period in U.S. economic history. . . . It requires some patience, reflection, and time to wrap one's mind around this perplexing assertion. It goes against everything historians know about the 1930s. If, by the end of Field's book, you're not convinced, you'll at least be sympathetic to the idea. Field makes that good a case."—Howard Bodenhorn, Business History Review 

Business History Review - Howard Bodenhorn

"... makes valuable and novel contributions to our understanding of the Great Depression and the Second World War ... highly recommended..."—Jason Taylor, Journal of Economic History

Journal of Economic History - Jason Taylor

Winner of the 2012 Alice Hanson Jones Biennial Prize, sponsored by the Economic History Association

Economic History Association - 2012 Alice Hanson Jones Biennial Prize

Eight decades later, the debacle of the Great Depression still fascinates many Americans – and for good reason.  Alexander Field’s new book is a major contribution to our understanding of what went wrong and what the country did to fix it.  His finding that the technology of American industry advanced unusually rapidly under the New Deal is an especially valuable corrective to a variety of views held by economists and the general public alike.”—Benjamin M. Friedman, Harvard University

Benjamin Friedman

Selected as a 2011 Choice Outstanding Academic Title in the Economics category.

Choice - 2011 Choice Outstanding Academic Title in the Economics category

Winner of the 2012 National Book Award in the Social Sciences, sponsored by Alpha Sigma Nu.

Alpha Sigma Nu - 2012 National Book Award in the Social Sciences

As we sit mired in the The Great Recession, Alexander Field’s exciting reappraisal of The Great Depression offers surprising solace.  By showing the Great Depression was coupled with the most rapid technological advance in US history, he fundamentally recasts the history of the 1930s.  But he also offers hope that our own depression likely will have no long run costs to the US economy.”—Gregory Clark, University of California, Davis

 

Gregory Clark

. . . adds new evidence for the productive role of public spending. It also changes our view of what happened in the American economy during the 1930s, when military investment was not a driving force.”—Fred Block, American Prospect

American Prospect - Fred Block

“Extremely well argued and documented. . . . A Great Leap Forward presents the astonishing claim that the 1930s in America were an episode of great innovation and advancement in productivity.”—Robert Bruner, Dean, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia

University of Virginia - Robert Bruner

“Alex Field in this pathbreaking book overturns one myth after another about American economic history. His most important contribution is to unleash the saga of American economic growth from the simplistic story that investment automatically begets growth. He contrasts the 1920s, with high investment that ended in the collapse of a stock market bubble, with the 1930s when investment had collapsed and yet innovations continued and the world was changed forever. The 1930s ended with foundations of the standard of living lacking 10 years earlier, including streamlined autos with automatic transmissions, a vastly expanded highway network including the Bay Area bridges and the Hoover dam, diesel railroad locomotives replacing steam, and the transcendant revolution in the motion picture industry created by the 1939 productions of "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz." This book will change forever standard views of which decade''s growth was most dynamic, and why.”—Robert J. Gordon, Northwestern University

— Robert J. Gordon

Northwestern Professor