Two perspectives on preferences and structural transformation

We assess the empirical importance of changes in income and relative prices for structural transformation in the postwar United States. We explain two natural approaches to the data: sectors may be categories of final expenditure or value added; e.g., the service sector may be the final expenditure on services or the value added from service industries. We estimate preferences for each approach and find that with final expenditure income effects are the dominant force behind structural transformation, whereas with value-added categories price effects are more important. We show how the inputoutput structure of the United States can reconcile these findings.For financial support, Herrendorf thanks the Spanish Ministry of Education (Grants SEJ2006–05710/ ECON and ECO2009-11165), Rogerson thanks both the NSF and the Korea Science Foundation (WCU–R33–10005), and Valentinyi thanks the Hungarian Scienti_c Research Fund (OTKA) (Project K–105660–ny). Hubert Janicki, Loris Rubini, and Paul Schreck provided able research assistanc