The Way It Worked and Why It Won't - by Gordon C Bjork (Hardcover)

About the Book

While the decline of U.S. economic growth has been widely recognized and debated by professional economists, no one has until now offered a comprehensive description and explanation. Professor Bjork does so, and he explains the growth slowdown as a natural consequence of economic maturity.

In addition, Bjork explains how productivity growth occurs within industries and the economy as a whole and how accounting conventions fail to account for growth in expanding sectors of the economy such as services and government. He quantifies the effects of structural change in slowing the rate of growth, and he demonstrates why taxes and transfer payments for the education of the young and the maintenance and health care of the retired population necessarily increase with economic growth and maturity. This is an important synthesis for professional economists and policy makers as well as students and the concerned public.

Book Synopsis

While the decline of U.S. economic growth has been widely recognized and debated by professional economists, no one has until now offered a comprehensive description and explanation. Professor Bjork does so, and he explains the growth slowdown as a natural consequence of economic maturity.

In addition, Bjork explains how productivity growth occurs within industries and the economy as a whole and how accounting conventions fail to account for growth in expanding sectors of the economy such as services and government. He quantifies the effects of structural change in slowing the rate of growth, and he demonstrates why taxes and transfer payments for the education of the young and the maintenance and health care of the retired population necessarily increase with economic growth and maturity. This is an important synthesis for professional economists and policy makers as well as students and the concerned public.

Review Quotes

.,."The Way It Worked and Why It Won't: Structural Change and the Slowdown of U.S. Economic Growth raises some issues of fundamental importance to understanding the future of the American economy. I think that Professor Bjork lays them out well and has a suggestive set of answers to a complicated and controversial set of questions. All in all a very worthwhile study."-Douglass C. North Olin Professor in Arts and Sciences Washington University Nobel Laureate in Economics, 1993

"At last-an economists who understands the accounting conventions which determine the measurements of GDP and its rate of growth. Bjork not only understand them-he explains them clearly and succinctly and shows how they affect the measurement of growth, intertemporally and internationally."-Marc Massoud, Robert A. Day Distinguished Professor Accounting The Claremont Colleges

"Professor Bjork's book is timely and timeless in addressing the key issue of growth in the U.S. economy. It provides valuable perspective on the problems and opportunities facing the U.S. economy as we move into the 21st century."-Peter Barker Limited Partner Goldman Sachs & Co.

"The perfect guide for the perplexed."-Peter F. Drucker Clarke Professor of the Social Sciences Claremont Graduate University

"Too little attention has been given to the slowdown of the rate of growth of the American economy over the last two decades. This innovative book is filled with valuable facts about this slowdown, and thoughtful and challenging arguments about its causes, drawn from longer-term historical experiences. Anyone concerned about the future of American economic growth will learn much from this study."-Richard A. Easterlin Professor of Economics University of Southern California

"Why has U.S. growth slowed down and will it accelerate again? These are big public policy questions from which many authors shy away. Gordon Bjork takes them on. The analysis is sophisticated, as one would expect for a complicated issue. The exposition is clear and lucid. This is an informed and informative book, easy to read and just as easy to reflect on."-David Greenaway Professor of Economics and Pro-Vice-Chancellor University of Nottingham, Editor, Economic Journal

?The introduction and Chapter 10 should be required reading for students of macroeconomics, perhaps coupled with more optimistic texts. Economists will want to read all the intervening chapters. The book thoroughly addresses a fundamentally important topic.?-Eastern Economic Journal

"The introduction and Chapter 10 should be required reading for students of macroeconomics, perhaps coupled with more optimistic texts. Economists will want to read all the intervening chapters. The book thoroughly addresses a fundamentally important topic."-Eastern Economic Journal

About the Author

GORDON C. BJORK is Jonathon B. Lovelace Professor of Economics, Claremont McKenna College and the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, The Claremont Graduate School./e A former college president as well as consultant for various corporations and banking associations, Professor Bjork is the author of three earlier books on macroeconomic issues.