ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part shows that most chemical advances before 1930 were labor-saving, while the key product innovations, though based on research projects begun much earlier, only hit the market well after 1930. It looks at manufacturing sectors which appear less closely related to several key innovations of the Second Industrial Revolution but are nevertheless affected by the forces. The part examines the secular forces which caused employment in energy production to fall through the interwar period. It describes the non-manufacturing sectors of the economy, to see why these, far from absorbing displaced labor, actually exacerbated the interwar unemployment problem. The part discusses the product innovations which allowed food processing to fare well in the 1930s — too many of these came later in the decade. In lumber, the rise of cheaper and better substitutes caused secular decline in output, which was aggravated by substantial process innovation.
