Yoon, Yeo Joon (2013) A quantitative analysis of U.S. economic development, 1870-1913. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The transition of U.S. economy, from a large primary products exporter based on abundant endowments of natural resources to a leading industrial producer and a successful manufacturing exporter from the late 19th century to the early twentieth century, is a remarkable historical event. In this thesis I investigate the quantitative importance of various factors and policies behind the development of the U.S. and the North Atlantic economy from 1870 to 1913. The factors considered are exogenous changes in : sectoral productivities; endowments in labour and land; and trade costs. While these may not be all the factors that mattered, they were certainly important forces behind the development of the region.

I then ask some historically interesting counterfactual questions which are closely related to these forces. First, I explore the implications of the high tariffs imposed on U.S. manufacturing imports. More particularly, I ask "Could U.S. manufacturing and its economy grow as it did without the tariffs?" The second counterfactual exercise is related to the mass migration. There is no doubt that the mass immigration to the U.S. in the nineteenth century contributed considerably to its overall economic growth. But what is uncertain is its quantitative implications on the overall and the sectoral development. I also look at its implications on the Anglo-American real wage convergence.

The focus is on several dimensions of the development : the large increase in U.S. share of world manufacturing output and the decline in that of Britain; the growth of their primary and manufacturing output and real GDP; and its structural transformation. In order to disentangle the effects of each force, I build a model of the North Atlantic economy calibrated to be consistent with some key facts during this period.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	United States -- Economic conditions -- 1865-1918
Official Date:	December 2013
Dates:	Date Event December 2013 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Economics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Crafts, N. F. R. ; Venables, Anthony
Extent:	ix, 146 leaves
Language:	eng

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