Achievements of American Economy (2000)

What was achieved in the first hundred years following independence is great. By 1890, for example, the US was producing more iron and steel than Great Britain and Germany combined. In 1913 the United States accounted for more than a third of the world's industrial production. By the post-World War II era, the United States was producing 50 per cent of the "gross world product". The country endured a global depression in the first half of the 20^th century; it surmounted sharp inflation, high unemployment, and enormous government budget deficit in the second half of the last century.

By 1900, according to several criteria, the US had become the greatest industrial nation, and its citizens enjoyed the highest standard of living in the world. Today the average full-time employee works about 40 hours per week and the average family spends just 15 per cent of its income on food today, compared to 44 per cent in 1900. They are producing and consuming six times more goods and services per person, that they were 1900.

Today, the American economy no longer dominates the world as it clearly did before. But with only about 5% of the world’s population and about 6% of its land area, the United States still produces about 25% of the world's industrial products, agricultural goods and services. Its gross national product (GNP) has more than tripled since the end of the Second World War.

America remains the world leader in many areas. Among these are biochemical and genetic engineering, aerospace research and development, communications, computer and information services, and similar high-technology fields. America's private industries are doing quite well. American firms and computers retain the largest share of the world market. Many countries now have their own silicon valleys, but the first and biggest computer research and production area is till Silicon Valley, near San Francisco, where some 4000 high-tech firms are located.

America's share of the world's land that can be used for farming is less than 8% and only a tiny proportion of America's total population (less than 2%) is involved in agriculture. America not only feeds her own people – one of the few industrialized countries that does so – but a great many other people in the world as well.

The United States entered the 21^st century with an economy that was bigger, and by many measures more successful than ever.

Check your comprehension.

1. What progress had the US achieved by the end of the 19^th century? 2. What living standards do Americans enjoy today? 3. What did the country endure in the first half of the last century? 4. How has American "gross national product" increased since the WWII? 5. In what fields of science is America the leader? 6. What are silicon valleys? 7. Where is American Silicon Valley situated? 8. How many people of America are involved in agriculture? 9. How much agricultural production does America produce? 10. With what economy did the USA enter the 21^st century?

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Material-Economic Resources of the USA (1856)	\|	Chapter 4

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