
One of The Economist’s Economics and Business Books of the Year 2016.One of Foreign Affairs’ Editors’ Picks 2016.One of Financial Times (FT.com) Best Economics Books of 2016.History, Association of American Publishers Winner of the 2017 PROSE Award in U.S.Winner of the 2017 Excellence in Financial Journalism Book Award, New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.A critical voice in the most pressing debates of our time, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come. Robert Gordon contends that the nation’s productivity growth will be further held back by the headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government, and that we must find new solutions. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth challenges the view that economic growth will continue unabated, and demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 18 cannot be repeated.

Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, motor vehicles, air travel, and television transformed households and workplaces.

In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable.
