The Global Economy in the 1990s
A Long-Run Perspective

Eminent economics historians address key issues of the 1990s, situating them in their historical context.

Paul W. Rhode (Edited by), Gianni Toniolo (Edited by)

9780521617901, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 23 March 2006

334 pages, 54 tables
22.8 x 15.3 x 2 cm, 0.538 kg

'… an excellent collection of essays by an excellent group of economists and economic historians. Focusing attention on the U.S. economy in the 1990s, with comparisons with other countries and other periods, it provides an important economic history of the twentieth century as well as an interesting starting point for the study of the twenty-first century.' Stanley L. Engerman, Professor of Economics and History, University of Rochester

The 1990s were an extraordinary, contradictory, fascinating period of economic development, one evoking numerous historical parallels. But the 1990s are far from being well understood and their meaning for the future remains open to debate. In this volume, world-class economic historians analyze the growth of the world economy, globalization and its implications for domestic and international policy, the sources and sustainability of productivity growth in the USA, the causes of sluggish growth in Europe and Japan, comparisons of the Information Technologies revolution with previous innovation waves, the bubble and burst in asset prices and their impacts on the real economy, the effects of trade and factor mobility on the global distribution of income, and the changes in the welfare state, regulation, and macro-policy making. Leading scholars place the 1990s in a fuller long-run global context, offering insights into what lies ahead for the world economy in the twenty-first century.

1. Understanding the 1990s: the long-run perspective Paul Rhode and Gianni Toniolo
2. The world economy in the 1990s: a long-run perspective Nicholas Crafts
3. Managing the world economy in the 1990s Barry Eichengreen
4. Europe: a continent in decline? Riccardo Faini
5. Technical change and US economic growth: the interwar period and the 1990s Alexander J. Field
6. GPTs: then and now Peter L. Rousseau
7. Productivity growth and the American labor market: the 1990s in historical perspective Gavin Wright
8. The 1920s and the 1990s in mutual reflection Robert J. Gordon
9. Bubbles and bursts: the 1990s in the mirror of the 1920s Eugene N. White
10. The 1990s as a postwar decade Peter Temin
11. What is happening to the Welfare State? Peter H. Lindert
12. The American economic policy environment of the 1990s: origins, consequences, and legacies Michael A. Bernstein
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Development economics & emerging economies [KCM]