Made in the USA: The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing

Smil, Vaclav

ISBN 10: 0262019388 / ISBN 13: 9780262019385

Published by The MIT Press, 2013

About this Item

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Black boards, silver title and attributions to spine. Light external wear to few points. Full number line to 1. (xiii)263pp. Handful of black and white images interspersed throughout. Complete jacket has light handling wear to edges, corners, surfaces, with a small dent to spine. Octavo.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1778575870673

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Made in the USA: The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262019388
• ISBN 13: 9780262019385
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Dimensions: 1.91W x 15.88H x 23.5D centimeters 1.91 centimeters width by 15.88 centimeters height by 23.5 centimeters depth
• Weight: 499 grams

About this title

Synopsis

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 the author of more than thirty books on energy, the environment, food, and the history of technical advances, including Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken from Nature, published by the MIT Press. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.