It's only a fraction of the effect (and of course there was also over financialization), but 20% of the US population was farm labor in the 20s, that fell substantially (and there was the dust bowl) up through the 40s as tractors replaced a significant fraction of all farm labor (perhaps 1% per year). Efficiency does not always drive consumption.
Sure seems to rhyme. Call it Jevon's Tractor Paradox.
Something else certainly happened in the rest of the world about that time too!
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It's only a fraction of the effect (and of course there was also over financialization), but 20% of the US population was farm labor in the 20s, that fell substantially (and there was the dust bowl) up through the 40s as tractors replaced a significant fraction of all farm labor (perhaps 1% per year). Efficiency does not always drive consumption.
Sure seems to rhyme. Call it Jevon's Tractor Paradox.
Something else certainly happened in the rest of the world about that time too!