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Technology Shocks and the Great Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2016

Shingo Watanabe
Shingo Watanabe*
Affiliation:
Shingo Watanabe is Director, Bank of Japan (Osaka Branch), 2-1-45 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-8660, Japan. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Standard productivity measures indicate large fluctuations in technology during the Great Depression. This article's historical technology series (1892–1966), controlled for aggregation effects, varying input utilization, non-constant returns, and imperfect competition, does not indicate technology regress such that could trigger the downturn. In contrast, technology improvements in the recovery were so rapid that, over the whole Great Depression period, technology growth was highest among pre-WWII decades. This article also finds that output changed little and inputs fell when technology improved in the pre-WWII period. Real-business-cycle models have difficulty in explaining pre-WWII business cycles characterized by such responses.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 76 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 909 - 933
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2016 

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Footnotes

This article is a substantially revised version of the second chapter of my doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Michigan. I am grateful to my primary advisor, Miles Kimball, for his help, advice, and encouragement. Thanks to the anonymous referees, Ruediger Bachman, Tyler Shumway, and Dmitriy Stolyarov. All remaining errors are my own. The opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Bank of Japan.

References

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