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Post–World War II economic expansion

The post–World War II economic expansion, also known as the postwar economic boom or the Golden Age of Capitalism,[1][2] was a broad period of worldwide economic expansion beginning with the aftermath of World War II and ending with the 1973–1975 recession.[1] The United States, the Soviet Union and Western European and East Asian countries in particular experienced unusually high and sustained growth, together with full employment.

Contrary to early predictions, this high growth also included many countries that had been devastated by the war, such as Japan (Japanese economic miracle), West Germany and Austria (Wirtschaftswunder), South Korea (Miracle on the Han River), Belgium (Belgian economic miracle), France (Trente Glorieuses), Italy (Italian economic miracle) and Greece (Greek economic miracle). Even countries that were relatively unaffected by the war such as Sweden (Record years) experienced considerable economic growth.


The boom established the conditions for a larger series of global changes at the height of the Cold War, including postmodernism, decolonisation, a marked increase in consumerism, the welfare state, the space race, the Non-Aligned Movement, import substitution, counterculture of the 1960s, the beginning of second-wave feminism, and a nuclear arms race.

the collapse of the in 1971

Bretton Woods monetary system

the by President Richard Nixon as a response to the Bretton Woods collapse

closing of the gold window

the continued growth of in manufactured goods, such as automobiles and electronics

international trade

the ,

1973 oil crisis

the , and

1973–74 stock market crash

the ensuing

1973–75 recession

In 2000, economist Roger Middleton wrote that economic historians generally agree that 1950 represented the beginning year of the golden age,[3] while Robert Skidelsky states 1951 is the most recognized start date.[4] Both Skidelsky and Middleton have 1973 as the generally recognized end date, though sometimes the golden age is considered to have ended as early as 1970.


This long term business cycle ended with a number of events in the early 1970s:


While this is the global period, specific countries experienced business expansions for different periods; in Taiwan, the Taiwan Miracle lasted into the late 1990s, for instance, while in France the period is referred to as Trente Glorieuses (Glorious 30 [years]) and is considered to extend for the 30-year period from 1945 to 1975.

Chemical fertilizers

Tractors

Combine harvesters

High-yielding variety

Pesticides

 – Economies of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong

Four Asian Tigers

 – Surge in human activity and impact upon the Earth

Great acceleration

Mexican miracle

 – 1971 decoupling of the US dollar from gold

Nixon shock

 – Period in British political history, 1945 to 1970s

Post-war consensus

 – Economic boom in Spain 1959-1974

Spanish miracle

Boltho, Andrea, ed. The European Economy – Growth and Crisis (Oxford University Press, 1982).

Bremner, Robert (2004). Chairman of the Fed: William McChesney Martin Jr. and the Creation of the American Financial System. : Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300105087..

New Haven, CT

Brinckmann, Hans, and . Showa Japan: The Post-War Golden Age and Its Troubled Legacy (2008).

Ysbrand Rogge

Bullock, Paul and Yaffe, David [1975] RC 3/4 November 1975, RCG.

Inflation, the Crisis and the Post-War Boom

Crafts, N. and G. Toniolo, eds. Economic Growth in Europe since 1945 (Cambridge University Press, 1996).

Cairncross, Frances; Cairncross, Alec (1994), The Legacy of the Golden Age: 1960s and Their Economic Consequences,

Routledge

; Schwarz, Anna J. (1993) [1963]. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960 (9th ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 574–675. ISBN 978-0691003542.

Friedman, Milton

; Wooldridge, Adrian (2018). Capitalism in America: A History. New York: Penguin Press. pp. 273–298. ISBN 978-0735222441.

Greenspan, Alan

(2017). Till Time's Last Sand: A History of the Bank of England, 1694–2013. New York: Bloomsbury. pp. 391–501. ISBN 978-1408868560.

Kynaston, David

Marglin, Stephen A.; Schor, Juliet B. (1992), , Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-828741-4

The Golden Age of Capitalism: Reinterpreting the Postwar Experience

(2003). A History of the Federal Reserve – Volume 1: 1913–1951. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 607–724. ISBN 978-0226520001.

Meltzer, Allan H.

(2009). A History of the Federal Reserve – Volume 2, Book 1: 1951–1969. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226520025.

Meltzer, Allan H.

(2009). A History of the Federal Reserve – Volume 2, Book 2: 1970–1986. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 685–842. ISBN 978-0226213514.

Meltzer, Allan H.

Webber, Michael John; Rigby, David L. (1996), The golden age illusion: rethinking postwar capitalism

Wells, Wyatt C. (1994). Economist in an Uncertain World: Arthur F. Burns and the Federal Reserve, 1970–1978. New York: . pp. 43–121. ISBN 978-0231084963.

Columbia University Press

Yarrow, Andrew L. "The big postwar story: Abundance and the rise of economic journalism." Journalism History 32.2 (2006): 58+

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