Gordon has written prolifically about the problems facing contemporary economic growth, casting a sobering doubt on the ability of our current innovations what he calls the third industrial revolution, including all our fancy gadgets to power the economy the way previous waves of invention. He is the author of a textbook in intermediate macroeconomics, now in its 12th edition, and has completed a new book, the rise and fall of american growth, published by the princeton university press in january, 2016. After 150 years, the american productivity miracle is over. If you add up all of the innovations made from the late 1800s up to 1970, theres been no comparable stretch of economic growth, before or since, says economist robert gordon. Robert gordon is a macroeconomist with a particular interest in unemployment, inflation, and both the longrun and cyclical aspects of labor productivity.
This paper predicts that growth in the 25 to 40 years after 2007 will be much slower, particularly for the great majority of the population. Economist robert gordon lays out 4 reasons us growth may be slowing, detailing factors like epidemic debt and growing inequality, which could move the us into. Soon all subsequent macro textbooks were expounding the expectations augmented phillips curve. Third industrial revolution will not transform our lives us economist robert gordon takes aim at technophiles and their faith in innovation.
So says economist robert gordon, author of the rise and fall of american growth. Newswire interviews robert gordon, economist and professor robert bob gordon is an american economist and the stanley g. The rise and fall of american growth is unquestionably an important book that raises fundamental questions about the united states economy and. Gordon is reframing the conversation about economic growth in america and. Macroeconomics 12th edition pearson series in economics. New book by economist robert gordon asserts americas. He is sterling professor of economics at yale university and a regular contributor to the new york times. Department of economics northwestern university kellogg global hub 2211 campus drive. Northwestern economics professor robert gordon has a written a mostly very good and a very long book 762 pages in the print edition on the history of economic growth in the united states from 1870 to the present. Robert gordon, professor of economics at northwestern university, discusses his book, the rise and fall of american growth, in which he looks at the growth in the american standard of living. Robert gordon s new book discusses whether the best days of the u. Northwestern economics professor robert gordon has a written a mostly very good and a very long book 762 pages in the print edition on the history of economic growth.
Faltering innovation confronts the six headwinds robert j gordon northwestern university and cepr cepr policy insight no. Economist robert gordon lays out 4 reasons us growth may be slowing, detailing factors like epidemic debt and growing inequality, which could move the us into a period of stasis we cant innovate our way out of. The us economy has been expanding wildly for two centuries. He believes that technologies like smartphones, robots, and artificial intelligence arent going to have the kind of.
Macroeconomics 12th edition pearson series in economics hardcover by robert j gordon. It struck a chord earlier this year with skeptics of silicon. I took the opportunity of the 28 hours of sunlight on a round trip from detroit to shanghai to read it, which was a productive and delightful way to make the time go faster. Harris professor of the social sciences and professor of economics in the weinberg college of arts and sciences, systematically supported the thesis of his recent bestselling book, the rise and fall of american growth, by citing economic statistics that indicate the best years for growth in the united. Robert gordons the rise and fall of american growth is an extraordinary work of economic scholarship. People had leapt on the pessimism about innovation, and people completely overlooked the fact that, by far, the biggest contributor to future growth is about headwinds. A new book by economist robert gordonthe rise and fall of american growthis causing quite a stir. One of financial times best economics books of 2016. Be sure to watch the opposing viewpoint from erik brynjolfsson. Gordon, an economist at northwestern university has recently published an important new book, the rise and fall of american growth, which argues that the u. Bill gatess advice on how to read robert gordons the. Gordon contends that the nations productivity growth will be further held back by the headwinds of.
If hes right, and one links this with growing income inequality, our wouldbe leaders will have difficulty in making the case for achieving the american dream through steady incremental progress achieved through collaboration and political compromise. This expert thinks robots arent going to destroy many. Gordon news newspapers books scholar jstor november 2019 learn how and when to remove this. Gordon discusses his book the rise and fall of american growth. Gordons popular text macroeconomics was the first to incorporate the rational expectations hypothesis into the analysis of the phillips curve. Though his 784page book has drawn equal parts praise. American economic history g force books and arts the economist. Bill gatess advice on how to read robert gordons the rise and. Anybody who is tempted by this argument should read robert gordon s magnificent new book.
The best economics books of 2016 the washington post. Even by the standards of a field known as the dismal science, northwestern university economist robert gordon is a remarkably gloomy thinker. Gordon s most popular book is the rise and fall of american growth. A new book by economist robert gordon the rise and fall of american growthis causing quite a stir. The economics of new goods, nber books, national bureau of economic research, inc, number. Why robert gordon thinks growth is over and what we. A member of the national bureau of economic research, his most notable work is. Some experts think that the current global economic slowdown is a temporary blip in longterm growth. Gordon has long been associated with the view that future economic growth will be slower than that of the fairly recent past. Robert gordon, a celebrated economic historian and northwestern university professor, addresses these questions in his magisterial new book, the rise and fall of american growth.
Gordons most popular book is the rise and fall of american growth. Anybody who is tempted by this argument should read robert gordons magnificent new book. Standard of living since the civil war, which demonstrates that the lifealtering scale of u. Robert gordons notable history of economics and living. Robert gordon, the special century, and the prospects for. Robert aaron gordon, economist and expert on manpower. Maybe it is because of the nature of the book s subject, so it was inevitable that most readers found it dry. Introduction the prospects for future longrun us economic growth were already dismal in 2007 but were. The best economics books of 2016 bigstock by robert j. Third industrial revolution will not transform our lives. Chief among the doomsayers is robert gordon, whose new book forecasts stagnant productivity for the united states for the foreseeable future. Gordons book, released in january, chronicles american life and work, and the inventions that shaped them, from 1870 to the present. Shiller is a nobel prizewinning economist, the author of the new york times bestseller irrational exuberance, and the coauthor, with george a. This paper raises basic questions about the process of economic growth.
The rise and fall of american growth princeton university press. Robert aaron gordon 19081978, american economist robert gordon academic born 1966, scholar of italian studies rob gordon, lead character in the film version of nick hornbys novel high fidelity. The rise and fall of american growth the enlightened. A second issue is that throughout the first two parts of the book, gordon repeatedly explains why it is not possible to evaluate the impact of. Northwestern economics professor robert gordon has a written a mostly very good and a very long book 762 pages in the print edition on the history of. Standard of living since the civil war is a magisterial volume that will benefit any serious student of economics, demographics or history. An american economist who teaches at northwestern university, mr gordon has long been famous in. It questions the assumption, nearly universal since solows seminal contributions of the 1950s, that economic growth is a continuous process that will persist forever. Gordon is a wellknown economist and a professor at northwestern university. The data give an unambiguous answer that whoa whoa whoa. In an important new book, economist robert gordon makes the case for pessimism. Yes, the american economy is in a funk but not for the. Akerlof, of phishing for phools and animal spirits, among other books all princeton. Gordon, a distinguished macroeconomist and economic.
Standard of living since the civil war, by robert j. The economist offers authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them. My book forecast, going out 25 years in the future, productivity growth of 1. Productivity, wages, and prices inside and outside of manufacturing in the u. Gordon has 31 books on goodreads with 11441 ratings. Fortune robert gordon is an economist at northwestern university and the author of a book called the rise and fall of american growth. Rise and fall of american growth, the the princeton economic. Gordon declares that the kind of rapid economic growth we still consider our due was in fact a onetimeonly event. There was virtually no growth before 1750, and thus there is.
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