Total Factor Productivity in the Contiguous United States, 1977–1986

A linear programming technique is used to measure total factor productivity change in the contiguous 48 states during the period 1977 to 1986. The technique allows the decomposition of productivity change into its constituent parts: technological change, changes in pure technical efficiency, and changes in scale economies. This decomposition is used to identify "innovative" states that are pushing out the production frontier as opposed to states that are primarily in the process of 'catching-up.'     

Keeping the Door Open in Saudi Arabia: The United States and the Dhahran Airfield, 1945–46

I had no knowledge of air or defense strategy but one glance at a map was sufficient to persuade me of the prime importance of Dhahran, situated on a land mass resembling a gigantic aircraft carrier, astride the Middle East, and close to one of the world's richest oil fields, in which we had a controlling interest. J. Rives Childs, U.S. minister to Saudi Arabia¹