New Goods and the Transition to a New Economy

The U.S. went through a remarkable structural transformation between 1800 and 2000. A precipitous decline in the importance of agricultural goods in the economy was matched by the rapid ascent of a plethora of new non-agricultural goods and services. A competitive model is presented here where consu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of economic growth (Boston, Mass.) Mass.), 2005-06, Vol.10 (2), p.99-134
Main Authors: Greenwood, Jeremy, Uysal, Gokce
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation to change
Agricultural production
Agriculture
Consumer economics
Consumer goods
Consumption
Economic change
Economic development
Economic growth
Economic history
Economic models
Economic structure
Economic systems
Economic transitions
Employment
Farm economics
Growth models
Income shares
Innovations
Manufacturing
Mathematical methods
Output rate
Product development
Statistical analysis
Structural change
Studies
Technological change
Trademarks
Transitions
U.S.A
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The U.S. went through a remarkable structural transformation between 1800 and 2000. A precipitous decline in the importance of agricultural goods in the economy was matched by the rapid ascent of a plethora of new non-agricultural goods and services. A competitive model is presented here where consumption evolves along the extensive margin. This lessens the need to rely on satiation points, subsistence levels of consumption, and the like to explain agriculture's demise. The analysis suggests that between 1800 and 2000 economic welfare grew by at least 1.5% a year, and may be as much as 10% annually, the exact number depending upon the metric preferred.
ISSN:1381-4338
1573-7020
DOI:10.1007/s10887-005-1668-z