John E. Ullmann examines the underlying causes of the impending American economic blight. Specifically, he identifies the arms race as preempting technical talent and capital resources to the degree that it impairs the rest of the economy. According to Ullmann, it is the confluence of related misunderstandings and rationalizations about military spending that have inhibited a proper response to current economic and technical challenges. He demonstrates that solutions lie only in concentrating on direct action and physical realities, on industrial redevelopment and technical needs, and on the broader issues of the nature of work and its organization. Through a discussion of individual industries and their problems, Ullmann sets forth a series of proposals for their recovery and renewed progress.

This book presents a detailed industry-by-industry analysis of output and investment in American manufacturing. With imports soaring and the international indebtedness of the United States increasing, manufacturing has been the sector of the economy most threatened by outside pressures. In a growing number of products, domestic manufacture has ceased to be competitive, and in some products where American technological competence should have brought success, there are no American entries at all. The book's major chapters deal with trends and changes, from 1967 onward, in labor productivity, investment per employee, the location of manufacturing establishments, and the role and impact of imports and exports. In each case, general quantitative analysis is followed by a detailed review of the problems with the products, manufacturing processes, and markets of each industry, thus providing not only an account of the industry's current state, but an agenda for future change and improvement.

This book examines methodological problems involved in determining social costs and analyzes costs and their allocation in significant sectors of American economic and political life. It starts with a discussion of social costs and means of accounting for them and is followed with detailed discussions of how human life and health have been valued in society. The social costs of products, activities, and situations such as electrical power production, occupational disability, unemployment, old age, poverty, duplication of capital facilities, drugs, transportation, food, the business of government, including the military sector, are discussed and assessed. A summary chapter provides a historical evaluation and perspective on changing trends in social cost assessment and allocation.