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What Accounts for the US Ascendancy to Economic Superpower by the Early Twentieth Century? The Morrill Act-Human Capital Hypothesis

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  • Isaac Ehrlich
  • Adam Cook
  • Yong Yin

Abstract

Maddison's international panel data show that technically it was the faster growth rate of the US economy that led to its overtaking the United Kingdom as economic superpower. We explore the contributing factors. Identifying the land-grant college system triggered by the 1862/1890 Morrill Acts (MAs) as a major contributor, we develop this hypothesis theoretically and test it via difference-in-differences regression analyses viewing the MAs as the experiment, the United States or US states as treatment groups, and the United Kingdom as the chief control group in the country-level comparisons. Using national and state-level data, we estimate that the MAs produced sizeable educational and economic returns that catapulted the United States into its leading status.

Suggested Citation

  • Isaac Ehrlich & Adam Cook & Yong Yin, 2018. "What Accounts for the US Ascendancy to Economic Superpower by the Early Twentieth Century? The Morrill Act-Human Capital Hypothesis," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(2), pages 233-281.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jhucap:doi:10.1086/697512
    DOI: 10.1086/697512
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    Cited by:

    1. Bethencourt, Carlos & Perera-Tallo, Fernando, 2020. "Human Capital, Economic Growth, and Public Expenditure," ADBI Working Papers 1066, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    2. Isaac Ehrlich & Yun Pei, 2020. "Human Capital as Engine of Growth: The Role of Knowledge Transfers in Promoting Balanced Growth within and across Countries," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 37(2), pages 225-263, September.
    3. Carlos, Ann M. & Feir, Donna L. & Redish, Angela, 2022. "Indigenous Nations and the Development of the U.S. Economy: Land, Resources, and Dispossession," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(2), pages 516-555, June.
    4. Kunwon Ahn & John V. Winters, 2023. "Does education enhance entrepreneurship?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 717-743, August.
    5. Carlos Bethencourt & Fernando Perera-Tallo, 2024. "Public sector and human capital: on the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 1-66, September.

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