Technological Change and the Roaring Twenties: A Neoclassical Perspective

Sharon Harrison and Mark Weder

No 902, Working Papers from Barnard College, Department of Economics

Abstract: Annualized output growth in the United States was highest during the 1920s, as compared to any other of Fields (2003, 2009) growth cycles. This motivates us to address the causes of the Roaring Twenties in the United States. In particular, we use a version of the real business cycle model to test the hypothesis that an extraordinary pace of productivity growth was the driving factor. Our motivation comes from the abundance of evidence of signi cant technological progress during this period, fed by innovations in manufacturing and the widespread introduction of electricity. Our estimated total factor productivity series generate arti cial model output that shows high conformity with the data: the model economy successfully replicates the boom years from 1922-1929.

Keywords: Real Business Cycles; Roaring Twenties. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E32 N12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2009-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-ene, nep-his, nep-mac and nep-sbm
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Related works:
Journal Article: Technological change and the roaring twenties: A neoclassical perspective (2009)
Working Paper: Technological Change and the Roaring Twenties: A Neoclassical Perspective (2009)
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