Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Historical Measures of Economic Output

Handbook of Cliometrics

  • 327 Accesses

Abstract

Following an introduction this chapter provides an overview of the logic and conceptual underpinnings of national income and product measures (Part I). Part II describes developments beginning in the 1930s that led to the modern approaches and conventions regarding how we should measure these aggregates. Part III reviews contributions made by quantitative economists, new economic historians, and cliometricians to our understanding of economic epochs prior to the second half of the twentieth century. The principal focus is on the United States, although there is some reference to developments in other countries.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Blodget S (1964) Economica: a statistical manual for the United States. Augustus M. Kelley, New York. Reprint of 1806 edition

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolt J, van Zanden JL (2014) The Maddison project: collaborative research on historical National Accounts. Econ Hist Rev 67:627–651

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolt J, Inklaar R, de Jong H, van Zander JL (2018) Rebasing Maddison: the shape of long run economic development [Internet]. Updated 25 Jan 2018; Cited 28 Jan 2018. Available from https://voxeu.org/article/rebasing-maddison

  • Carson C (1975) The history of the United States national and product accounts: the development of an analytical tool. Rev Income Wealth 21:153–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • David PA (1967) New light on a statistical dark age: U.S. Real product growth before 1840. Am Econ Rev 57:294–306

    Google Scholar 

  • David PA (2005) Real income and economic welfare growth in the early republic. Or, another try at getting the American story straight. Working Paper, Stanford University, December 9, 2005

    Google Scholar 

  • Egnal M (1998) New World economics. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Field AJ (1985) On the unimportance of machinery. Explor Econ Hist 22:378–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallman RE (2000) Economic growth and structural change in the long nineteenth century. In: Engerman SL, Gallman RE (eds) The Cambridge economic history of the United States: Vol. 2: the long nineteenth century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 1–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Gide C (1948) A history of economic doctrines from the time of the Physiocrats to the present day. DC Heath, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert M, Jaszi G, Denison E, Schwartz C (1948) Objective of national income measurement: a reply to professor Kuznets. Rev Econ Stat 30 (August):151–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones AH (1980) Wealth of a nation to be. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendrick J (1961) Productivity trends in the United States. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendrick J (1970) The historical development of national income accounts. Hist Polit Econ 2:284–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King W (1915) The wealth and income of the people of the United States. Macmillan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • King G (1696) Natural and political observations and conclusions upon the state and condition of England. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1936

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuznets S (1934) National income, 1929–1932. Published as U.S. Congress, Senate, S. Doc 124, 73rd Congress, 2nd session

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuznets S (1937) National income and capital formation, 1919–1935: A preliminary report. National Bureau of Economic Research, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuznets S (1941) National income and its composition, 1919–1938. Assisted by Lillian Epstein and Elizabeth Jenks. 2 vols. National Bureau of Economic Research, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuznets S (1946) National Product since 1869. Assisted by Lillian Epstein and Elizabeth Jenks. National Bureau of Economic Research, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuznets S (1952) National income estimates for the United States Prior to 1870. J Econ Hist 12(Spring):115–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuznets S (1961) Capital in the American Economy: its formation and financing. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindert P, Williamson JG (2016) Unequal gains: American growth and inequality since 1700. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Maddison Historical Statistics (2018) Available at https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison

  • Mancall M, Weiss T (1999) Was economic growth likely in colonial British North America? J Econ Hist 59:17–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mancall M, Rosenbloom J, Weiss T (2004) Conjectural estimates of economic growth in the Lower South, 1720 to 1800. In: Guinnane T, Sundstrom W, Whatley W (eds) History matters: essays on economic growth, technology, and demographic change. Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp 389–424

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin R (1939) National Income in the United States, 1799–1938. National Industrial Conference Board Studies no. 241. National Industrial Conference Board, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Petty W (1691) Political Arithmetick: or, a discourse concerning the extent and value of lands, people, buildings. R. Clavel, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Quesnay F (1972) Tableau Economique. A. M. Kelley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhode P, Sutch R (2006) Estimates of national product before 1929. In: Carter S et al (eds) Historical statistics of the United States: earliest times to the present: millennial edition, vol III. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 3-12–3-20

    Google Scholar 

  • Romer CD (1989) The prewar business cycle reconsidered: new estimates of gross national product, 1869–1908. J Polit Econ 97(February):1–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romer CD (1994) Remeasuring business cycles. J Econ Hist 54(September):573–609

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbloom J, Weiss T (2014) Economic growth in the mid-Atlantic region: conjectural estimates for 1720 to 1800. Explor Econ Hist 51(January):41–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rostow W (1960) The stages of economic growth: a non-communist manifesto. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Seaman E (1868) Essays on the progress of nations, in civilization, productive industry, wealth and population. C. Scribners, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw W (1947) Value of commodity output since 1869. National Bureau of Economic Research, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith A (1937) The wealth of nations. Modern Library, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Spahr C (1896) An essay on the present distribution of wealth in the United States. Crowell, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Steckel R (1995) Stature and the standard of living. J Econ Lit 33:1903–1940

    Google Scholar 

  • Steckel R (2006) Health, nutrition, and physical well-being. In: Carter S et al (eds) Historical statistics of the United States: earliest times to the present: millennial edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Studenski P (1958) The income of nations. New York University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutch R (2006) National income and product. In: Carter S et al (eds) Historical statistics of the United States: earliest times to the present: millennial edition, vol III. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 3-3–3-12

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker G (1843) Progress of the United States in population and wealth in fifty years, as exhibited in the decennial census. Little and Brown, Boston

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economics Analysis (2017) Concept and methods of the U.S. National Income and Product Accounts (November). Available at https://www.bea.gov/national/pdf/all-chapters.pdf

  • Warburton C (1934) Value of the gross national product and its components, 1919–1929. J Am Stat Assoc 29(December): 383–388

    Google Scholar 

  • Weir D (1986) The reliability of historical macroeconomic data for comparing cyclical stability. J Econ Hist 46:353–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss T (1992) U. S. labor force estimates and economic growth, 1800–1860. In: Gallman RE, Wallis JJ (eds) American economic growth and standards of living before the civil war. University of Chicago Press for the NBER, Chicago, pp 19–78

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA

    Alexander J. Field

Authors
  1. Alexander J. Field
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander J. Field .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. BETA/CNRS (UMR 7522), University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study, Strasbourg Cedex, France

    Claude Diebolt

  2. University of Wisconsin Department of Economics, La Crosse, WI, USA

    Michael Haupert

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Field, A.J. (2019). Historical Measures of Economic Output. In: Diebolt, C., Haupert, M. (eds) Handbook of Cliometrics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_38-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_38-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-40458-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-40458-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Historical Measures of Economic Output
    Published:
    28 September 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_38-2

  2. Original

    Historical Measures of Economic Output
    Published:
    26 December 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_38-1

Search

Navigation