Thursday, December 19, 2013

US GDP 1947-2011


These two graphs were published in Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog today.


Clearly there has been a great deal of economic development in the United States since 1947. The population is much larger now, but it also lives better. That development has been marked by a major transformation of the structure of the economy. Extractive industries have dwindled to invisibility in the statistics. Manufacturing is a smaller portion of the economy, while finance and retail trade have grown.

Pielke provides us with data on the proportion of GDP by sector.

  • Government in 1960: 13.2%; in 2011: 13.2%
  • Agriculture & manufacturing in 1950: 34%; in 2011: 13%
  • Finance & services in 1950: 26%; in 2011: 52%

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