Acknowledgments

“A Better Way” was written by W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm. The essay is based on research conducted by Cox, senior vice president and chief economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Alm is an economics writer in the Bank’s Research Department. Julia Kedrova provided important research assistance on the project. Charlene Howell assisted with photo research.

Note

1. For more information, see the Dallas Fed’s Annual Report essays for 2000, “Have a Nice Day!”; 1993, “These Are the Good Old Days”; and 1998, “The Right Stuff.”

Exhibit Notes and Data Sources

Exhibit 2.
Productivity by the Numbers
The 1980 business cycle is not included among “major business cycles” because it was only six months long.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), national income and product accounts. Historical productivity trends for 1870–1973 were calculated using Angus Maddison, Monitoring the World Economy: 1820–1992 (table J-5); for 1973–2003, BLS.

Agriculture: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economics and Statistics System, http://jan.mannlib.cornell.edu; National Agricultural Statistics Service, Crop Production, Jan. 12, 2004.

Energy: Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review, 2002 (tables 8.2a and 8.3c).

Banking: Statistical Abstract of the United States 1987 (table 673), 1996 (table 655) and 2002 (table 604); BLS.

Telephone operators: Statistical Abstract 1955 (tables 241 and 605); Federal Communications Commission, Statistics of Communications Common Carriers, 2002–03; BLS.

Steel: U.S. Geological Survey: http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/
pubs/of01-006/ironandsteel.html and Mineral Commodity Summaries 2004, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs/2004/mcs2004.pdf; BLS.

Auto manufacturing: Ward's Motor Vehicle Facts & Figures 2003; BLS.

Exhibit 3.
Trading Up
Authors' calculations.

Exhibit 4.
Hierarchy of Human Talents
BLS.

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Toll lane productivity: International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association estimates, www.ibtta.org.

Photo Credits

Cover (from left)
Bottom row: David Bray Photographer/Port of Houston Authority; U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Second row: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection [LC-USW33-031077-C DLC]; Deere and Company Archives; 1957ford.com.

Third row: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection [LC-USE6-D-006951 DLC], [LC-USF33-011801-M4 DLC]; Nebraska State Historical Society; Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection [LC-USE6-D-001290 DLC]; Library of Congress, Prints & Photo-graphs Division, Theodor Horydczak Collection [LC-H814-T01-1007 DLC].

Fourth row: Chicago Historical Society, Chicago Daily News Negatives Collection, DN-0082996; Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection [LC-USF34-034565-D DLC], [LC-USF34-026059-D DLC]; Library of Congress, Prints & Photo-graphs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection, D34403; Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Theodor Horydczak Collection [LC-H824-T01-2873-003-x DLC].

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Agriculture: Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture/Eastern Washington State His-torical Society, Spokane, left.

Industry (from left): Chicago Historical Society, Chicago Daily News Negatives Collection, DN-0001064; Library of Con-gress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection [LC-USE6-D-004076 DLC]; © CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Services: Fred Hultstrand History in Pictures Collection, NDIRS-NDSU, Fargo, N.D., left; Chicago Historical Society, Chicago Daily News Negatives Collection, DN-0084883, middle.

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U.S. Department of Agriculture, left; Roberts & Schaeffer Company.

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United States Steel Corporation, upper right.

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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

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Continental Airlines, Inc.

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David Bray Photographer/Port of Houston Authority.

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© 2004 Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

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North Texas Tollway Authority.

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U.S. Department of Agriculture, upper left; American Environmental Photographs Collection [AEP-INN52], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library, lower left; Bucyrus International, Inc., right.

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Agricultural Research Service, USDA/
Scott Bauer, third down; Carousel Designs, Ltd., fifth down.

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Robert Harbison/2001©The Christian Science Monitor.

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