AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
Creating the "American Way" of Business: Evidence from WWII in the United States
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 114,
May 2024
(pp. 582–85)
Abstract
World War II was arguably one of history's largest shocks to the US economic and production system. In this paper, I argue that "managerial technology" played a key role in shaping US WWII production and its capacity to defeat some of the most advanced economies in the world. The large-scale diffusion of innovative management practices to US firms involved in war production acted as a technology that put them on a higher growth path for decades. Moreover, it made US managerial practices internationally distinctive and created the "American Way" of doing business—exported worldwide in the aftermath of the war.Citation
Giorcelli, Michela. 2024. "Creating the "American Way" of Business: Evidence from WWII in the United States." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 114: 582–85. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20241075Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D22 Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
- M10 Business Administration: General
- N12 Economic History: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- N42 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- N62 Economic History: Manufacturing and Construction: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- N72 Economic History: Transport, Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- O30 Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights: General