This chapter examines the historical record of manufacturing productivity growth in the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth century in the context of broader trends in private non-farm economy productivity. TFP growth in manufacturing peaked in the 1920s and has trended generally...

Using quantitative data on sectoral productivity and labor force shares, this paper assesses distribution's contribution to growth in aggregate output per worker between 1869 and 1992, speculates about performance during the prior two decades, and explores the implications and determinants of...