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1 correction found
had its fastest ever economic growth.
Historical GDP series do not show the post-Civil-War era as the United States' fastest growth period. Standard long-run estimates put total GDP growth slightly higher in 1820–70, and GDP-per-capita growth higher in 1950–73, than in 1870–1913.
Full reasoning
A standard way economic historians benchmark the post-Civil-War era is 1870–1913. In Angus Maddison's long-run historical series, that period was not the U.S.'s fastest on either of the two common growth measures:
- Total GDP growth: Maddison's OECD table gives the United States 4.20% annual GDP growth in 1820–70, versus 3.94% in 1870–1913 and 3.93% in 1950–73. So the postbellum era was not the fastest ever in aggregate GDP growth.
- GDP per capita growth: EH.Net's summary of Maddison's U.S. series gives 1.82% annual growth in 1870–1913, but 2.45% in 1950–73. So it was also not the fastest ever on a per-person basis.
Because the claim says the post-Civil-War period had the U.S.'s "fastest ever economic growth", and standard historical GDP series show at least one earlier period with faster total GDP growth and one later period with faster per-capita growth, the claim is overstated and incorrect.
2 sources
- The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective (OECD, Angus Maddison)
Table A1–e lists U.S. GDP growth rates as 4.20% for 1820–70, 3.94% for 1870–1913, 2.84% for 1913–50, and 3.93% for 1950–73.
- A History of the Standard of Living in the United States (EH.Net)
Table 1 gives U.S. GDP per capita annual growth of 1.34% (1820–1870), 1.82% (1870–1913), 1.61% (1913–1950), and 2.45% (1950–1973).