Business & Economics Manufacturing Industries
Made in the USA
The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing
- Publisher
- MIT Press
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2015
- Category
- Manufacturing Industries, Labor, Corporate & Business History
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780262528351
- Publish Date
- Aug 2015
- List Price
- $28.95
Add it to your shelf
Where to buy it
Description
An overview of the state of manufacturing in America—both past and present—and how this sector and the jobs it creates are essential to the American economy
“There's no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.” —Bill Gates
In Made in the USA, Vaclav Smil powerfully rebuts the notion that manufacturing is a relic of predigital history and that the loss of American manufacturing is a desirable evolutionary step toward a pure service economy. Smil argues that no advanced economy can prosper without a strong, innovative manufacturing sector and the jobs it creates.
Smil explains how manufacturing became a fundamental force behind America’s economic, strategic, and social dominance. He describes American manufacturing’s rapid rise at the end of the nineteenth century, its consolidation and modernization between the two world wars, its role as an enabler of mass consumption after 1945, and its recent decline. Some economists argue that shipping low-value jobs overseas matters little because the high-value work remains in the United States. But, asks Smil, do we want a society that consists of a small population of workers doing high-value-added work and masses of unemployed?
Smil assesses various suggestions for solving America’s manufacturing crisis, including lowering corporate tax rates, promoting research and development, and improving public education. Will America act to preserve and reinvigorate its manufacturing? It is crucial to our social and economic well-being; but, Smil warns, the odds are no better than even.
About the author
Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of forty books, including Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses and Made in the USA: The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing, both published by the MIT Press. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013 Bill Gates wrote on his website that “there is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.”
Other titles by
How to Feed the World
The History and Future of Food
El tamaño de las cosas / Size : How It Explains the World
Grand Transitions
How the Modern World Was Made
Invention and Innovation
A Brief History of Hype and Failure
How the World Really Works
The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
Numbers Don't Lie
71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World
Growth
From Microorganisms to Megacities
Energy and Civilization
A History
Energy
A Beginner's Guide
Power Density
A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses