Did World War II really transform the United States into a more productive economy?

In this episode of the Economic and Political History Podcast, I speak with Alexander J. Field, the Michel and Mary Orradre Professor of Economics at Santa Clara University and author of The Economic Consequences of U.S. Mobilization for the Second World War, published by Yale University Press.

The conventional story is familiar: World War II mobilized American industry, generated extraordinary increases in production, created new technologies, and laid the foundations for the postwar economic boom.

Alexander Field challenges an important part of that story.

His research finds that U.S. manufacturing productivity actually declined during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, total factor productivity fell substantially, and the evidence suggests that much of the celebrated wartime learning did not translate into lasting increases in productive capacity after the war.

Why?

One answer is surprisingly simple: the American economy was suddenly forced to produce things it had very little experience producing. Factories shifted from familiar civilian products to aircraft, tanks, ships, weapons, and other military goods. The transition itself was enormously disruptive.

We discuss the difference between production and productivity, why the distinction matters, and why the fact that the U.S. still had substantial unused economic capacity in 1941 changes how we should understand wartime mobilization.

We also explore some extraordinary episodes from the war economy:

• The productivity boom of the 1930s—and why the Depression decade may have been one of America's most technologically progressive periods
• Ford's transition from the Model T to the Model A as an analogy for wartime production
• The catastrophic loss of natural rubber after the fall of Singapore
• The enormous U.S. synthetic rubber program—and the political fight over alcohol versus petroleum as its feedstock
• German U-boats and the disruption of the Gulf-to-East-Coast petroleum supply chain
• The Big Inch and Little Big Inch pipelines
• Why some sectors that were starved of labor and capital nevertheless became more productive
• “Learning by doing without”
• Military logistics and the origins of linear programming
• Kantorovich, Koopmans, and George Dantzig
• Why the conventional “production miracle” narrative has proved so durable
• Wartime business advertising and the changing claims managers made about productivity
• What the history of World War II can teach us about economic history itself

Field's book is ultimately a challenge to a very familiar idea: that war mobilization necessarily strengthens an economy's long-run productive capacity.

The question is not whether American production during World War II was extraordinary—it unquestionably was. The question is what that extraordinary production actually did to productivity and long-run economic potential.

The Economic and Political History Podcast explores the intersection of economics, politics, institutions, and history. I’m Javier Mejia, a lecturer in political science at Stanford University.

If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe to the podcast, leave a comment, and share the episode with someone interested in economic history, World War II, productivity, or the history of American capitalism.

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Why do some societies experience extraordinary periods of prosperity, creativity, and human flourishing—and why do those golden ages eventually come to an end?In this episode of the Economic and Political History Podcast, Javier Mejia speaks with Johan Norberg, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and author of Peak Human: What We Can Learn from the Rise and Fall of Golden Ages.Norberg examines seven historical golden ages and asks what they have in common. The conversation moves from the ancient Mediterranean to Abbasid Baghdad, Song China, the Italian and Dutch republics, and Britain’s Industrial Revolution.Along the way, we discuss a central puzzle of history: why do societies that become prosperous through innovation, openness, experimentation, and economic freedom so often develop institutions and political attitudes that eventually undermine those very conditions?We discuss:• What exactly makes a historical period a “golden age”—and golden for whom?• The “Great Status Quo Filter” and why successful elites can become hostile to the innovations that made them successful• Athens, Sparta, and Rome• The intellectual and economic achievements of the Abbasid Golden Age—and its decline• Song China and its remarkable approach to technology, commerce, property rights, and urbanization• Why the Ming dynasty reversed many of those developments• Why golden ages repeatedly emerged in fragmented Europe• The Italian and Dutch republics and why they eventually lost their leadership• Britain’s Industrial Revolution and the importance of “savants and fabricants”—thinkers and tinkerers• Whether Britain’s empire and colonialism caused its rise, or whether British power was itself a consequence of economic development• The role of slavery, empire, coercion, trade, and innovation in the history of modern wealth• The warning signs that may indicate the end of our own golden age• Whether the golden age of global liberalism has already come to an endNorberg's book asks us to look at history not simply as a succession of technological breakthroughs or political regimes, but as a recurring struggle between the forces that encourage experimentation and those that seek to preserve the status quo.The final question is perhaps the most consequential: if historians look back at our own era two centuries from now, what will they identify as the moment when we chose the “Spartan path”?Johan Norberg is the author of Peak Human: What We Can Learn from the Rise and Fall of Golden Ages.Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/JavierMejiaCInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/javier_mejia_c/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/javier-mejia-cubillos-64504562/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3WqEZXavqg3qstoLKwtllF?si=589f4216d414448fApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-economic-and-political-history-podcast/id1708348817

Why do some currencies become global—and why do they eventually disappear?In this episode of the Economic & Political History Podcast, Stanford political scientist Javier Mejia speaks with renowned economic historian Barry Eichengreen about more than 2,500 years of monetary history.From the first coins of Ancient Lydia and Classical Athens to the Spanish dollar, the Dutch guilder, the British pound, the U.S. dollar, China's renminbi, cryptocurrencies, and central bank digital currencies, this conversation explores the forces that determine which currencies become global.They discuss:• Why international currencies almost always emerge from politically stable states• The surprising history of Ancient Greece, Byzantium, Florence, Amsterdam, and London• Why the dollar has remained dominant despite repeated predictions of its decline• Whether China can challenge the dollar• Bitcoin, stablecoins, CBDCs, and the future of money• What history teaches us about the next international monetary orderBarry Eichengreen is the George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Distinguished Professor of Economics and Political Science at UC Berkeley and one of the world's leading historians of international finance.If you enjoy long-form conversations about economics, political economy, history, and public policy, subscribe for future episodes.Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/JavierMejiaCInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/javier_mejia_c/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/javier-mejia-cubillos-64504562/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3WqEZXavqg3qstoLKwtllF?si=589f4216d414448fApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-economic-and-political-history-podcast/id1708348817