US Real GNP 1945–1973

After all that data on 19th century growth rates, we can compare the real US GNP rates for 1945–1973:

Year | GNP* | Growth Rate
1946 | 1798.20 |
1947 | 1784.80 | -0.74%
1948 | 1864.80 | 4.48%
1949 | 1854.20 | -0.56%
1950 | 2016.50 | 8.75%
1951 | 2174.30 | 7.82%
1952 | 2257.40 | 3.82%
1953 | 2360.10 | 4.54%
1954 | 2346.20 | -0.58%
1955 | 2515.80 | 7.22%
1956 | 2566.90 | 2.03%
1957 | 2619.20 | 2.03%
1958 | 2592.90 | -1.00%
1959 | 2778.10 | 7.14%
1960 | 2848.20 | 2.52%
1961 | 2916.10 | 2.38%
1962 | 3094.10 | 6.10%
1963 | 3230.10 | 4.39%
1964 | 3417.50 | 5.80%
1965 | 3636.40 | 6.40%
1966 | 3869.80 | 6.41%
1967 | 3967.70 | 2.52%
1968 | 4160.60 | 4.86%
1969 | 4288.00 | 3.06%
1970 | 4295.80 | 0.18%
1971 | 4442.20 | 3.40%
1972 | 4678.90 | 5.32%
1973 | 4960.30 | 6.01%
* Billions of Chained 2005 Dollars

Average real GNP growth rate, 1947–1973: 3.86%.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Source: U.S. Department of Commerce: Bureau of Economic Analysis
http://wikiposit.org/a?uid=FRED.GNPCA

The average rates per decade are as follows (with additional measures for the best periods):

Average real GNP growth rate, 1951–1960: 3.55%
Average real GNP growth rate, 1961–1970: 4.21%
Average real GNP growth rate, 1964–1973: 4.40%
Average real GNP growth rate, 1959–1968: 4.85%

Some points:

(1) The average real GNP growth rate in Romer for 1870–1900 was 4.17%. This was higher than the average for 1947–1973, but not by much: 3.86% (1947-1973) compared to 4.17%. This means that average growth was 8.03% higher from 1870–1900.

(2) Factor (1) is explained by the industrialisation phase of the US economy to my mind, and mostly by the 1870s. It is notable that the decadal rates in the 1880s and 1890s were much lower:

Average real GNP growth rate, 1881–1890: 2.72%.
Average real GNP growth rate, 1891–1900: 3.79%.

(3) As pointed out before, across the whole OECD, 1946-1973 won out as the better period in terms of per capita GDP growth:

1700–1820 – 0.2%
1820–1913 – 1.2%
1919–1940 – 1.9%
1950–1973 – 4.9%
1973–1990 – 2.5%

(Davidson 1999: 22).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Davidson, P. 1999. “Global Employment and Open Economy Macroeconomics,” in J. Deprez and J. T. Harvey (eds), Foundations of International Economics: Post-Keynesian Perspectives, Routledge, London and New York. 9–34.