Review Essay on The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War by Robert J. Gordon

Solid economic history of revolution, evolution, and slow down since 1870

In 1990, I moved to Japan to work in the US Embassy. It’s hard to imagine now, but back then everyone in DC thought Japan was going to take over the world, at least as based on its economic growth rate. A slew of popular and academic books sang the praises of Japan’s hardworking managers, the prescience of its bureaucrats, the brutal rigor of its educat…