American business cycles and innovation /

Economists have long studied innovation and its effects on business cycles. Economist Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950) was the first economist to thoroughly discuss these ideas in his Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, published in 1911 (English translation: The Theory of Economic Develop...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hood, Michael
Format: Thesis Book
Language:English
Published: [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified] ; 2004.
Subjects:
Online Access:Link to OAK Trust copy

MARC

Tag First Indicator Second Indicator Subfields
LEADER 00000cam a2200000Ka 4500
001 in00002002104
005 20151031132031.0
008 041109s2004 xx b 000 0 eng d
035 |a (OCoLC)ocm56939648 
040 |a TXA  |c TXA  |d UtOrBLW 
049 |a TXAM 
099 |a 2004  |a Fellows Thesis  |a H66 
100 1 |a Hood, Michael. 
245 1 0 |a American business cycles and innovation /  |c by Michael Hood. 
264 1 |a [Place of publication not identified] :  |b [publisher not identified] ;  |c 2004. 
300 |a viii, 37 leaves ;  |c 28 cm. 
336 |a text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a unmediated  |b n  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a volume  |b nc  |2 rdacarrier 
502 |b Fellows Thesis  |c Texas A&M University  |d 2004. 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-36). 
500 |a Vita. 
500 |a "Major Subject: Finance". 
520 |a Economists have long studied innovation and its effects on business cycles. Economist Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950) was the first economist to thoroughly discuss these ideas in his Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, published in 1911 (English translation: The Theory of Economic Development, 1934). This paper focuses on three issues: defining innovation, defining and identifying business cycles, and determining which innovations caused which business cycles. The first section introduces the concepts of innovation and invention. The second section discusses the business cycles and highlights general causes of business cycles. The final section details the history of the iron, steel, aluminum, and pharmaceutical industries and incorporates the available business and economic data (output, productivity, inventories, and capital investment) required to answer the central question: which innovations caused which business cycles? The iron industry, examined over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, reveals that its relationship to the business cycle is likely significant but was difficult to quantify because of limited data. An examination of the steel industry from the post-Civil War period to the early twentieth century follows. The steel industry had a significant effect on the business cycle and seemed to direct the business cycle during the growth in railroad mileage. Steel was a huge and indispensable industry for most of the 20[th] century so it makes a very important case to study. The aluminum industry is relevant to examine because the process for making aluminum has remained the same since the American inventor, Charles Hall, patented his method in 1889. The contribution of aluminum was significant because of the introduction of the large-scale electrical generators needed to produce aluminum. Finally, the paper focuses on the contribution of the pharmaceutical industry to the business cycle. The pharmaceutical industry is important to this study because it has already proved to be a major source of innovation and is an industry that will continue to play a significant role in the American economy. The findings reveal the contribution from this industry was most significant in the post-World War II era of research and development. The paper concludes with suggestions for improving and expanding this innovation and business cycle study. 
650 4 |a Major finance. 
856 4 1 |u http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2004-Fellows-Thesis-H66  |z Link to OAK Trust copy  |t 0 
948 |a cataloged  |b h  |c 2004/11/9  |d c  |e eneff  |f 3:17:48 pm 
994 |a E0  |b TXA 
999 |a MARS 
999 f f |s ec6711fb-ac89-3b4a-818c-6f9965a89af6  |i effd67dd-0678-3dd2-99c7-9f688c0967c3  |t 0 
952 f f |p noncirc  |a Texas A&M University  |b J.J. Pickle Campus  |c High Density Repository  |s HDR  |d Remote Storage  |t 0  |e 2004 Fellows Thesis H66  |h Other scheme  |i unmediated -- volume  |m A14850686396 
952 f f |a Texas A&M University  |b College Station  |c Electronic Resources  |s www_evans  |d Available Online  |t 0  |e 2004 Fellows Thesis H66  |h Other scheme 
998 f f |a 2004 Fellows Thesis H66  |t 0  |l Remote Storage 
998 f f |a 2004 Fellows Thesis H66  |t 0  |l Available Online