The Rise and Fall of American Growth

The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War

By: Robert J. Gordon

Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray

A New York Times Best Seller

In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, home appliances, motor vehicles, air travel, air conditioning, and television transformed households and workplaces. With medical advances, life expectancy between 1870 and 1970 grew from 45 to 72 years. Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth provides an in-depth account of this momentous era. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end?

Gordon challenges the view that economic growth can or will continue unabated, and he demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 can't be repeated. He contends that the nation's productivity growth, which has already slowed to a crawl, will be further held back by the vexing headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government. Gordon warns that the younger generation may be the first in American history that fails to exceed their parents' standard of living, and that rather than depend on the great advances of the past, we must find new solutions to overcome the challenges facing us.

A critical voice in the debates over economic stagnation, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2016 Princeton University Press (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Informative and extensive

Great book but can be dry at times. It's well-researched and informative. I would recommend to anyone interested in the economics of the US

The book is a great review of how we got to where we are today

I loved the review of the industrial revolution and learning where various technological changes came from. His suggestions of how to increase American growth seemed pretty standard though. I was disappointed with that. It seemed like he just phoned in that part of the book. We've heard all those recommendations before. The book is worth the time though.

gives good perspective on the state of today

Gives a historical look at how the US got to where it is today and suggest some answers

Dry, but informative

To be honest, this book is tough to get through. Even though it covers a subject I have a lot of interest in, I must have started and finished at least ten other books between the time I started this one, and the day I finally finished it.

He gets 4 stars for his excellent job compiling data, but his conclusions are iffy, and he stepped outside of his expertise with some speculation a few times (e.g. diet comments stuck out to me). Conservative economist Deirdre McCloskey said in and interview that, "Bob Gordon lost his mind," in reference to this book. That doesn't mean he is wrong, but you can guess where his conclusions lean.

best in series so far

Lockwood book 3 is very strong. the beginning of book 2 was problematic, and the person who read book 2 was completely horrible at reading books. the woman who reads this book 3 is very very good.

good book. OK audio book.

love economics and hearing about how the world has changed in the past 100 years. this book does rely on lots of charts and graphs so the listener is often lost following along but over all worth a listen.

Buttresses Piketti's Capital in the 21st Century

1% growth is the future of America's economy. This book gave really detailed accounts of this fact.

Essential insights - especially for young adults

My grandson is reading this for a university finance class. He is not a finance major. It will provide him with important information as he makes the big decisions about his future. Thank you professor Gordon and associates.

Interesting Take on American History

Must read for a good understanding of how America got to it's current iteration. Not enough emphasis on the role oil played in it. He said oil was secondary. Oil is primary. Without the energy from oil, you don't have America.

A useful discussion of long run trends

Few of us bother to think about how much life has changed in the past 200 years, how much easier our lives are than were the lives of our great grandparents.

This book chronicles and quantifies the vast improvements in technology that have greatly improved living standards, even well beyond what standard economic measures might indicate.

A downside to the audio version is that the book is very numbers-oriented-- which is ordinarily fine with me -- but counterproductive in an audio format.

An excessively polemical tone also mars the book in many places. I would not begrudge the occasional political view from an author of such a book but the author overdoes it, not just disagreeing with but ignoring reasonable contrary views and interpretations of the data. At times the author simply cherry picks arguments that support the point that he wants to make at the given time. For example, the author implies that the existence of a sex-based wage gap despite the majority of females in college (since 1980) implies that sex discrimination is still an issue. Then, just a few pages later, the author makes the correct point that there is great heterogeneity in the market rewards to various college majors -- e..g, engineering vs. sociology. Of course, the second point is correct but is ignored when the author wants to push the sex discrimination argument.