The Past and Future of America's Economy: Long Waves of Innovation that Power Cycles of Growth

Throughout American history, periodic cycles of economic change have fundamentally reordered the way we work, the organization of business and markets, the role of government, and even the nature of politics. If we are to control our future, we must understand this process of change.

These economic transformations are powered by the emergence of waves of new technologies. In the 1890s, the development of electricity and cheap steel led to a new, factory-based economy. In the 1940s and 1950s, automation and advances in electronics and chemicals created a new national corporate, mass-production economy. Since the 1990s, an information technology revolution has again created a robust New Economy.

Robert Atkinson examines this process of change over the past 150 years and explores the responses of people and institutions. The book then analyzes today's New Economy, including the new information technology system, and effects on markets, organizations, workers, and governance. Taking into account the historical record, the book discusses the shortcomings of prevailing liberal and conservative economic doctrines and lays out a new growth economics agenda aimed at maximizing the productivity-enhancing forces of the New Economy.

Anyone interested in American history as well as the future contours of our economy will find Dr Atkinson's insightful analyses a fascinating guide to the past and a provocative challenge for the future. Economists, business leaders, scholars, and economic policymakers will find it a necessary addition to the literature on economic cycles and growth economics.