The new economy / Roger Alcaly.

Some material previously published in the New York review of books, 1987-1999.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: Introduction 3 --From the New Industrial State to the New Economy 6 -- Schumpeter's Vision 14 1. Is There a New Economy? 17 --What Makes an Economy New? 20 -- Productivity Growth over the Last Two Centuries 25 -- The Productivity Paradox 35 -- What Caused the Revival of Productivity Growth? 38 -- Will It Last? 42 2. Why Did It Take So Long? 52 --Building a Critical Mass 55 -- A Brief History of the Transistor 60 -- Learning to Use New Technologies: Electric Power 67 -- Measuring Economic Change 74 -- 3. The Changing of the Guard 81 --Galbraith's New Industrial State 83 -- The Dangers of Aggressive Extrapolation 86 -- The Fall of the New Industrial State 91 -- Addendum: Galbraith, Schumpeter, and the -- Convergence Hypothesis II5 4. New Ways of Working 120 --From Ford to Dell: Mass Production to Mass -- Customization 122 -- New Technology and New Business Practices 132 -- Lean Production: A New Manufacturing Model -- for the New Economy 138 -- Technology, Worker Skills, and New Work Practices 146 -- Addendum: The Mixed Record of ESOPs I54 5. The Stock Market and the New Economy 161 --First Principles 166 -- Caveats and Exceptions 170 -- Bubbles, Misleading Accounting, and Shady Dealing 177 -- Reversion to the Mean 191 -- New Investors and New Companies 196 6. Junk Bonds and Takeovers 204 --Mergers and Acquisitions in the 98os and I99os 209 -- The Revival of the Junk-Bond Market 212 -- Developing a Network of Investors 215 -- The Hugely Profitable Deals of the Early and Mid-Ig80s 219 -- Mania, Prosecutions, and Collapse 223 -- Was It Worth It? 229 -- 7. Better Monetary Policy 2 --The Federal Reserve System 238 -- The Volcker Years 246 -- 246 -- The Greenspan Era 2 Conclusion: Looking Forward 263 Notes -- 277 -- Acknowledgments 3 -- Index -- 315.