Were railroads indispensable to American economic development?
Upvote:2
Fogel's contention is disputed by at least two other economists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_the_United_States
One of them is Walt Whitman Rostow, who specialized in the study of the "take-off" of developing countries. His argument was that railroads turned the U.S. from a developing to a developed country around 1840 not only because they improved transportation, but because of their "spillover" effects on creating demand for manufacturing and banking, two other important sectors.
Albert Fishlow argues that by 1890, the savings on using railroads versus alternate forms of transportation amounted to 15% of GDP, more than twice Fogel's estimate of such savings.
Upvote:5
The literal answer is no. What most people would describe as a reasonable answer is yes.
Russia, and the central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and Afghanistan are examples of what development is like without efficient transportation. Are they more developed now than 100 years ago? Certainly. In comparison to the US? Absolutely not.
Development in the US would have been along coasts and rivers in the 19th century, and would have been slower. With the discovery of oil, we could then build the road system and aircraft that make up much of our economic backbone now. However, extracting and distributing oil requires large amounts of steel, and the process of moving the raw and finished goods associated with steel involve significant weight, and much of the resource is inland. While motorcars appeared almost instantly with the availability of oil, heavy duty trucking only emerged toward the end of the 1930s. Therefore, development that began in the 1820s would have been deferred until the 1930s. The US, in that case, might look more like the Ukraine or Romania.
More post
- 📝 How did Lincoln legitimize the constitutionality of his Emancipation Proclamation?
- 📝 How did Soviet soldiers resist tanks during the battle of Shumshu?
- 📝 Was Jesus unique from the point of view of contemporaries?
- 📝 Do most historians consider the enlightenment belief about human reason a precondition for democracy to emerge?
- 📝 Why were the military and civil powers split in the Late Roman Empire?
- 📝 Transatlantic Zeppelin Flight Time
- 📝 What percentage of men, ages 18 to 35, from the northern states served in the Union Army?
- 📝 Are there any records of Turks settling in Anatolia before the 11th century?
- 📝 How did people ensure that renaissance Papal election bribery was honored?
- 📝 Was the reign of Galba covered in the missing books of Tacitus' Annals?
- 📝 How many soldiers did Ghengis Khan field?
- 📝 Did the Soviets excel in one area of weaponry during World War II?
- 📝 What is the historical evidence for asserting Huns were one and the same as Xiongnu?
- 📝 How effective are rope helmets as protection?
- 📝 Louis XIV of France, "L'État, c'est moi", and the royal 'we'
- 📝 Where is Havillah, the land of gold, described in Genesis?
- 📝 Are there any examples of technologies have been lost over time?
- 📝 What was a turf rick in Ireland, circa 1833?
- 📝 How common was it for Red Cross personnel to fight (in both World Wars)?
- 📝 Were Rosa Parks and Freedom Riders the first ones to use a bus to protest/change?
- 📝 What is a "Schwedenschanze" on an 1830's map of Eastern Bavaria?
- 📝 Have there been any other US presidents besides JFK that were groomed from birth to be president?
- 📝 Why is the color red associated with communism?
- 📝 How common was training with swords and other weapons at Newton's time in England?
- 📝 When did the U.S. Postal Service completely transition from horse-drawn to motorized transport?
- 📝 Did any Chinese revolutionaries being helped by the Japanese get suspicious of Japan's intentions?
- 📝 Who were the traders involved in the triangular slave trade in France?
- 📝 What role did Lucky Luciano play in facilitating the invasion of Sicily?
- 📝 Why did Shirer omit information from The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich?
- 📝 Did the Latins see the Etruscans as a plague?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Were railroads indispensable to American economic development?
- 📝 Was murdering a slave illegal in American slavery, and if so, what punishments were given for it?
- 📝 Where did Hitler get the funds to invest in economic development programs such as the autobahn when the German economy was in a depression?
- 📝 How heavily were the British taxing their American colonies?
- 📝 Why were there so few American deaths in the Bataan Death March?
- 📝 What were the indigenous populations of California before American settlement began to peak?
- 📝 Were there any war movies made during WW2 that were well regarded by front-line American soldiers?
- 📝 What percentage of British and American troops were involved in direct combat with enemy in World War II
- 📝 How many acres per person were needed for the early American settlers vs. the native Americans?
- 📝 How were 19th century American diplomats paid?
- 📝 Why were North American indigenous peoples underdeveloped?
- 📝 How were the first American citizens granted citizenship?
- 📝 During the American Civil War, were cavalry units issued horses?
- 📝 Is it true that there were American POWs in Soviet captivity after the Second World War?
- 📝 Why were cavalry raids so powerful during the American Civil War?
- 📝 What were the global economic consequences of the 1918 flu pandemic?
- 📝 Were labor shortages ever a problem for the railroads in the Old West?
- 📝 What major Native American tribes were around Santa Fe during the late 1850s?
- 📝 Were there any abolitionists imprisoned for being critical of the Congress or the President during the American Civil War?
- 📝 At the peak of the American whaling industry, what share of the workforce were involved in it?
- 📝 How prevalent were American disinformation campaigns during the Cold War?
- 📝 Were officers allowed to resign during the American Civil War?
- 📝 Did American Indians disrupt railroads in their regions?
- 📝 What were the business models of real estate development in ancient Rome?
- 📝 Were any of the historical figures of the American Civil War close at West Point?
- 📝 Were there any pro-Native American groups during the Indian Wars?
- 📝 What were the dominant Native American cultures in Eastern Canada and New England in the late 900s?
- 📝 How were FDR's economic policies as Governor of New York contradictory?
- 📝 What economic incentives (if any) did France have to aid the American army during the revolution?
- 📝 Were there any British traitors during the American revolutionary war?