The Rise of American Industry- American Economic History Research Proposal

The Rise of American Industry- American Economic History - search Proposal ExampleAlthough America has been blessed with abundant geological resources, the intensity of conversion of natural resources into make commodities, which grew the most during 1880 to 1920, was the major reason that American industry could grow to this predominance. Economies of scale and capital intensive employment was possible because of the access to new materials like aluminum and copper as well as bigger markets through the transportation network (Chandler, 1992). This enabled the American industry to get a competitive advantage in the period prior to the First World War.During the inter-war years, 1929-41, the American delivery witnessed the worst recession and unemployment situation as a result of demand crash, hence the period popularly known as the Great Depression. The economy recovered after the Second World War and the period between 1948 and 1973 was a boom time, with close non-farm enterpri ses growing fast. Interestingly, even during the depression years, growth in real output was higher than the growth in real wages and real capital, that is total factor productivity (TFP) grew faster than in the post-war boom years. both(prenominal) economists have argued that this simultaneous existence of high diligence productivity and unemployment stems from the fact that with decline in demand, private enterprises tended to lay off the unproductive labor. Hence, selective labor retention and improved management practices enabled higher labor productivity. However, other economists have found that factors other than selective retention of labor resulted in the high inter-war productivity growth, which was the base on which post-war economic revival happened in America. For example, quality of labor improved as Americans received better educational qualifications during the inter-war years, a level that was not achieved again since the 1960s (Goldin, cited in Field, 2006). O n