Capital in the Nineteenth Century, Gallman Robert E., Rhode Paul W.

Gallman measured American capital stock from a range of perspectives, viewing it as the accumulation of income saved and invested, and as an input into the production process. He used the level and change in the capital stock as proxy measures for long-run economic performance. Analyzing data in this way from the end of the US colonial period to the turn of the twentieth century, Gallman placed our knowledge of the long nineteenth century--the period during which the United States began to experience per capita income growth and became a global economic leader--on a strong empirical foundation. Gallmans research was painstaking and his analysis meticulous, but he did not publish the material backing to his findings in his lifetime. Here Paul W. Rhode completes this project, giving permanence to a great economists insights and craftsmanship. Gallmans data speak to the role of capital in the economy, which lies at the heart of many of the most pressing issues today.