ABSTRACT
This chapter describes US economic history, economic theories and social class; evaluates the contemporary economy; and analyzes attitudes to the economic system.
Historically, the US economy has been characterized by technological change, and periods of recession, adaptation and steady (often rapid) growth. Agriculture was the main economic activity from colonial times to the mid-nineteenth century. It then quickly became more mechanized and efficient and used fewer workers. Industrial and manufacturing output also increased greatly from the nineteenth century. Such growth led to the US becoming the world’s richest country and the leading industrial nation by the early twentieth century.
