What Was The Economy Like In The 1950s

What Was the Economy Like in the 1950s? A Post-War Boom and its Undercurrents

Introduction:

Step back in time with us to the 1950s, a decade often romanticized for its poodle skirts, drive-in movies, and seemingly idyllic suburban life. But beneath the surface of this nostalgic image lay a complex and dynamic economy, one shaped profoundly by the aftermath of World War II. This post delves deep into the economic landscape of the 1950s, exploring the factors that fueled its unprecedented growth, the inequalities that persisted beneath the surface, and the seeds of future economic shifts that were sown during this era. We'll uncover the realities of this decade, moving beyond the rose-tinted glasses and examining the true picture of prosperity and its limitations.


1. The Post-War Boom: A Foundation of Growth

The 1950s witnessed an extraordinary economic expansion, largely fueled by the pent-up demand following World War II. Years of wartime rationing had created a massive backlog of consumer desire for durable goods – automobiles, appliances, and housing. Demobilized soldiers flooded the workforce, contributing to a surge in productivity. Government spending, while reduced from wartime levels, continued to support infrastructure projects and the burgeoning defense industry, further stimulating the economy. The burgeoning baby boom also contributed, creating a significant increase in consumer demand over the following decades. This combination of factors propelled a period of sustained economic growth, creating a sense of unprecedented prosperity for many Americans.

2. The Rise of Consumerism and Suburbanization:

The 1950s saw the explosion of consumerism as a defining characteristic of American culture. The availability of credit, coupled with aggressive marketing techniques, encouraged spending on a previously unimaginable scale. The rise of television played a crucial role in shaping consumer desires and promoting new products. This burgeoning consumer culture intertwined with the mass suburbanization that occurred during this period. Government-backed mortgages and the construction of highways facilitated the movement of families from cities to newly constructed suburbs, creating a demand for homes, cars, and all the associated goods and services. This suburban boom fundamentally reshaped the American landscape and economy.

3. The Role of the Military-Industrial Complex:

The Cold War exerted a significant influence on the 1950s economy. The ongoing arms race with the Soviet Union led to substantial government investment in defense-related industries. This created jobs, fueled technological innovation, and contributed to overall economic growth. However, this reliance on military spending also raised concerns about the long-term sustainability and societal impact of such a heavily militarized economy. The emergence of the military-industrial complex, a term coined by President Eisenhower himself, became a subject of ongoing debate and scrutiny.

4. Labor Unions and the Changing Workplace:

The post-war era saw the peak of labor union power in the United States. Unions successfully negotiated higher wages, better benefits, and improved working conditions for many American workers. This contributed to the rising standard of living enjoyed by many during the 1950s. However, the period also witnessed the beginning of a decline in union membership and influence, as automation and shifts in industrial production began to alter the nature of work and the bargaining power of labor.

5. Inequalities and the "Hidden" Economy:

While the 1950s are often portrayed as an era of widespread prosperity, this prosperity was not evenly distributed. Significant racial and economic inequalities persisted. African Americans and other minority groups faced systemic discrimination in employment, housing, and access to education, limiting their opportunities for economic advancement. Rural poverty remained a significant problem, contrasting sharply with the image of suburban affluence that dominated popular culture. The "hidden" economy, encompassing informal and often undocumented work, also played a larger role than is often recognized.


6. The Seeds of Future Economic Shifts:

The economic landscape of the 1950s laid the groundwork for significant economic changes in the decades that followed. The growing reliance on consumer spending and the expansion of credit created the conditions for future economic booms and busts. The rise of automation foreshadowed the changes in the workforce and the decline of manufacturing jobs that would characterize later economic periods. The Cold War's influence on the economy laid the foundation for future debates about military spending and its impact on society.


Article Outline: What Was the Economy Like in the 1950s?

Introduction: Hook the reader, overview of the article's content.
Chapter 1: The Post-War Boom: Analysis of post-war economic expansion.
Chapter 2: Consumerism and Suburbanization: Examining the rise of consumer culture and suburban growth.
Chapter 3: The Military-Industrial Complex: The Cold War's influence on the economy.
Chapter 4: Labor Unions and the Workplace: The role of labor unions and changes in the workplace.
Chapter 5: Inequalities and the Hidden Economy: Examining economic inequalities and the informal economy.
Chapter 6: Seeds of Future Shifts: Forecasting the future based on the economic trends of the 1950s.
Conclusion: Summarizing key takeaways and offering concluding thoughts.


(The detailed content for each chapter is provided above in the main article.)


FAQs:

1. What was the unemployment rate in the 1950s? Unemployment remained relatively low throughout much of the 1950s, generally averaging below 5%.

2. How did the GI Bill affect the economy? The GI Bill provided educational and housing benefits to veterans, stimulating both the education sector and the housing market.

3. Was inflation a problem in the 1950s? Inflation was generally low and stable during most of the 1950s, although there were periods of modest price increases.

4. What were the major industries of the 1950s? Major industries included automobiles, steel, consumer goods manufacturing, and the burgeoning defense industry.

5. How did technology impact the 1950s economy? Technological advancements, particularly in automation and consumer electronics, significantly impacted productivity and consumer culture.

6. What role did government policy play in the 1950s economy? Government policies, including investment in infrastructure and support for the defense industry, played a significant role in shaping the economy.

7. How did the 1950s economy compare to previous decades? The 1950s represented a period of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity compared to the pre-war and Great Depression eras.

8. What were the limitations of the 1950s economic prosperity? Economic prosperity was not equally distributed, with significant inequalities based on race and class.

9. What were some of the social consequences of the 1950s economy? The economic changes of the 1950s had significant social consequences, including suburbanization, the rise of consumer culture, and shifts in family structures.


Related Articles:

1. The Baby Boom Generation: Economic Impact: Examines the demographic impact of the baby boom on the economy.

2. The Rise of the American Suburbs: Explores the social and economic factors behind suburbanization.

3. The Cold War and the Military-Industrial Complex: A deeper dive into the military's role in the economy.

4. The History of Labor Unions in the US: A broader overview of the role of labor unions in shaping the American economy.

5. Consumerism in the 20th Century: A wider look at the development of consumer culture.

6. Post-War Economic Recovery in the West: Compares the US recovery to other nations.

7. The Civil Rights Movement and Economic Inequality: Examines the intersection of civil rights and economic disparity.

8. Technological Advancements of the 1950s: A detailed look at the technological innovations of the era.

9. The Eisenhower Era and Economic Policy: Focuses on the economic policies of President Eisenhower.


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  what was the economy like in the 1950s: The Past and Future of America's Economy Robert D. Atkinson, 2004-01-01 Anyone interested in American history as well as the future contours of our economy will find Dr. Atkinson's analyses a guide to the past and a provocative challenge for the future. Economists, business leaders, scholars, and economic policymakers will find it a necessary addition to the literature on economic cycles and growth economics.--BOOK JACKET.
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  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Oxford Bibliographies ,
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  what was the economy like in the 1950s: US Economic History Since 1945 Michael French, 1997 Since 1945 the US economy has evolved from an expanding consumer society in which affluence was more widely distributed than ever before. Mike French's volume examines the principal economic developments and social changes in the US since 1945, including those in business, regional dynamics, protest movements, and population distribution. Social movements based on the civil rights demands of African-Americans, ethnic minorities, and women are also examined. The elements of continuity to pre-1945 trends and the points of departure, notably in the post-1970 period, are discussed to provide a more complete examination than previously available.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: The Road to Prosperity Jari Ojala, Jari Eloranta, Jukka Jalava, 2006 The Finnish economy is a victory over hardship, a success story with few equivalents. During the period 1860-2000 the gross domestic product grew 21-fold, while EU nations on average achieved 11-fold growth. Today, Finland is known for its competitiveness, high educational standards, negligible corruption, expertise in creating and using high technology, and successful companies, most notably Nokia. This book tells how Finland astonishingly evolved from an internationally insignificant agrarian economy to the affluent, knowledge-based, welfare society that it is now. The Road to Prosperity: An Economic History of Finland offers an overview of several centuries of economic progress -- with a keen eye on negative effects of growth. The articles in this beautifully illustrated work contain long-term analyses of business, foreign trade, agriculture, and employment. In addition, there is coverage of the development of banking, the public sector, income distribution, the advance of the information society, and welfare. And the Finnish story is woven seamlessly into the tapestry of international economics. The contributors are prominent scholars of Finnish economic history and economics; the foreword being a product of distinguished American economic historian Joel Mokyr, winner of the Heineken Prize for History 2006.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: The Economy of Communist China, 1949–1969 Chu-yuan Cheng, 2021-01-19 Economic development in mainland China during the first two decades of Communist control provides a typical example for the difficult task to transform a vast underdeveloped agrarian economy into a modern industrial one. In the first half of this period, a series of massive transformations of social and economic institutions was accompanied by a drafted industrialization program; the result was an impressive speed-up in economic growth. The second decade witnessed an economic crisis (1960–62) and a political upheaval (1966–68). These disruptions marred the economic performance over the period as a whole. Consequently, the long-term growth rate appears to have been only moderate. The Economy of Communist China reviews selected aspects of the economy. After examining the development strategy, it analyzes the quantitative trends and the structural changes. The book goes on to analyze the key factors contributing to the earlier growth and the elements responsible for the later disruption and finally assesses the impact of the Cultural Revolution on the Chinese economy and the prospects of the current Third Five-Year Plan. The text includes a bibliography of selected materials on Chinese economic development.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: America in the 1950s Edmund Lindop, 2009-09-01 Outlines the important social, political, economic, cultural, and technological events that happened in the United States from 1950 to 1959.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Economic Analyses Using The Overlapping Generations Model And General Equilibrium Growth Accounting For The Japanese Economy: Population, Agriculture And Economic Development Mitoshi Yamaguchi, Tomoko Kinugasa, 2014-05-29 This unique book contains novel and in-depth research regarding economic development in Japan. The authors examine economic development in Japan from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Using general equilibrium growth accounting and the overlapping generations model, they analyze the relationships between population, agriculture and the economy. The research results are unprecedented and show the effects of increased adult longevity on national savings and the effects of demographic change on the industrial structure; the push-pull effects of technical change in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and the positive effects of population on technical change and economic development.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Freedom's Forge Arthur Herman, 2013-07-02 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SELECTED BY THE ECONOMIST AS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR “A rambunctious book that is itself alive with the animal spirits of the marketplace.”—The Wall Street Journal Freedom’s Forge reveals how two extraordinary American businessmen—General Motors automobile magnate William “Big Bill” Knudsen and shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser—helped corral, cajole, and inspire business leaders across the country to mobilize the “arsenal of democracy” that propelled the Allies to victory in World War II. Drafting top talent from companies like Chrysler, Republic Steel, Boeing, Lockheed, GE, and Frigidaire, Knudsen and Kaiser turned auto plants into aircraft factories and civilian assembly lines into fountains of munitions. In four short years they transformed America’s army from a hollow shell into a truly global force, laying the foundations for the country’s rise as an economic as well as military superpower. Freedom’s Forge vividly re-creates American industry’s finest hour, when the nation’s business elites put aside their pursuit of profits and set about saving the world. Praise for Freedom’s Forge “A rarely told industrial saga, rich with particulars of the growing pains and eventual triumphs of American industry . . . Arthur Herman has set out to right an injustice: the loss, down history’s memory hole, of the epic achievements of American business in helping the United States and its allies win World War II.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magnificent . . . It’s not often that a historian comes up with a fresh approach to an absolutely critical element of the Allied victory in World War II, but Pulitzer finalist Herman . . . has done just that.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A compulsively readable tribute to ‘the miracle of mass production.’ ”—Publishers Weekly “The production statistics cited by Mr. Herman . . . astound.”—The Economist “[A] fantastic book.”—Forbes “Freedom’s Forge is the story of how the ingenuity and energy of the American private sector was turned loose to equip the finest military force on the face of the earth. In an era of gathering threats and shrinking defense budgets, it is a timely lesson told by one of the great historians of our time.”—Donald Rumsfeld
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: An Economic and Social History of Western Europe since 1945 Anthony Sutcliffe, 2014-09-19 This is the ideal companion text to A Political History of Western Europe Since 1945. It is an introductory survey which explains how western Europe built up its postwar prosperity and is moving towards continental integration. Themes treated include: the origins of the EC; consumerism; youth culture and protest; immigration; the oil crisis and its aftermath; and the contrasting experience and expectations of the Nordic world and the Mediterranean south. The book ends with the consequences of Soviet collapse. Designed for general history students, it assumes no formal knowledge of economics, and is notably accessible and user-friendly in its approach.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Social Change, Industrialization, and the Service Economy in São Paulo, 1950-2020 Francisco Vidal Luna, Herbert S. Klein, 2022-07-19 In the 1950s–80s, Brazil built one of the most advanced industrial networks among the developing countries, initially concentrated in the state of São Paulo. But from the 1980s, decentralization of industry spread to other states reducing São Paulo's relative importance in the country's industrial product. This volume draws on social, economic, and demographic data to document the accelerated industrialization of the state and its subsequent shift to a service economy amidst worsening social and economic inequality. Through its cultural institutions, universities, banking, and corporate sectors, the municipality of São Paulo would become a world metropolis. At the same time, given its rapid growth from 2 million to 12 million residents in this period, São Paulo dealt with problems of distribution, housing, and governance. This significant volume elucidates these and other trends during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and will be an invaluable reference for scholars of history, policy, and the economy in Latin America.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Economics and Its Stories Amal Sanyal, 2017-07-06 Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Markets, Efficiency, and Adam Smith -- 3. Many Forms of Market: Sellers Big and Small -- 4. Markets Often Fail and So Do Governments -- 5. Unemployment and J.M. Keynes -- 6. After Keynes -- 7. Money, Banks, and Finance -- 8. Trade, Foreign Investment and Migration -- 9. Economic Growth and Development -- 10. Conclusion -- Index.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: The World Economy between the Wars Peter Temin, Gianni Toniolo, 2008-02-12 The European Economy between the Wars, (OUP, 1997) has become the definitive economic history of Europe in the inter-war period. Placing the Great Depression of 1929-33 and the associated financial crisis at the center of the narrative, the authors comprehensively examined the lead-up to and consequences of the depression and recovery. The authors now expand their scope to include the entire world economy, and have created a new edition: The World Economy between the Wars. New material focuses on the structure of the world economy in the 1920s, including a special focus on the United States, Japan, and Latin America.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Economic Policy in Iraq, 1932-1950 Joseph Sassoon, 2012-11-12 First Published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: The Political Economy Of Devaluation Jorge L. Daly, 2019-07-11 This book has greatly benefited from the intellectual advice of Jim Weaver, Don Bowles, and Richard Weisskoff, who supervised my doctoral dissertation at The American University.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Planning in Cold War Europe Michel Christian, Sandrine Kott, Ondrej Matejka, 2018-10-08 The idea of planning economy and engineering social life has often been linked with Communist regimes’ will of control. However, the persuasion that social and economic processes could and should be regulated was by no means limited to them. Intense debates on these issues developed already during the First World War in Europe and became globalized during the World Economic crisis. During the Cold War, such discussions fuelled competition between two models of economic and social organisation but they also revealed the convergences and complementarities between them. This ambiguity, so often overlooked in histories of the Cold War, represents the central issue of the book organized around three axes. First, it highlights how know-how on planning circulated globally and were exchanged by looking at international platforms and organizations. The volume then closely examines specificities of planning ideas and projects in the Communist and Capitalist World. Finally, it explores East-West channels generated by exchanges around issues of planning which functioned irrespective of the Iron Curtain and were exported in developing countries. The volume thus contributes to two fields undergoing a process of profound reassessment: the history of modernisation and of the Cold War.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: The Politics of Economic Decline James E. Alt, 1979-11 This book originally published in 1979, deals with popular perceptions and expectations of economic trends, popular preferences among economic policies, and the relationships between these and broader aspects of political behaviour like voting, attachment to the party system, and political and social attitudes. The economy has long been held to be a critical determinant of the ability of governments to gain election. This book provides unique evidence about popular expectations of inflation, evaluation of economic management, and preferences among competing economic goals and policies, without which the connection between economic management and electoral success cannot be understood. At the same time, by dealing extensively with electoral survey data for Britain since 1964, the book provides a contemporary history of electoral and political behaviour in an age of unprecedented economic management.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: The Experience Economy B. Joseph Pine, James H. Gilmore, 1999 This text seeks to raise the curtain on competitive pricing strategies and asserts that businesses often miss their best opportunity for providing consumers with what they want - an experience. It presents a strategy for companies to script and stage the experiences provided by their products.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Temptations of Power Shadi Hamid, 2014-03-17 In 1989, Francis Fukuyama famously announced the end of history. The Berlin Wall had fallen; liberal democracy had won out. But what of illiberal democracy--the idea that popular majorities, working through the democratic process, might reject gender equality, religious freedoms, and other norms that Western democracies take for granted? Nowhere have such considerations become more relevant than in the Middle East, where the uprisings of 2011 swept the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups to power. In Temptations of Power, Shadi Hamid draws on hundreds of interviews with leaders and activists from across the region to advance a new understanding of how Islamist movements change over time. He puts forward the bold thesis that repression forced Islamists to moderate their politics, work in coalitions, de-emphasize Islamic law, and set aside the dream of an Islamic state. Meanwhile, democratic openings in the 1980s--and again during the Arab Spring--pushed Islamists back toward their original conservatism. With the uprisings of 2011, Islamists found themselves in an enviable position, but one for which they were unprepared. Groups like the Brotherhood combine the features of both political parties and religious movements, leading to an inherent tension they have struggled to resolve. However pragmatic they may be, their ultimate goal remains the Islamization of society. When the electorate they represent is conservative as well, they can push their own form of illiberal democracy while insisting they are carrying out the popular will. This can lead to overreach and significant backlash. Yet, while the Egyptian coup and the subsequent crackdown were a devastating blow for the Islamist project, obituaries of political Islam are premature. As long as the battle over the role of religion in public life continues, Islamist parties in countries as diverse as Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan will remain an important force whether in the ranks of opposition or the halls of power. But what are the key factors driving their evolution? A timely and provocative reassessment, Hamid's account serves as an essential compass for those trying to understand where the region's varied Islamist groups have come from and where they might be headed.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: International Monetary Fund Annual Report 1950 International Monetary Fund, 1950-09-01 This paper reviews key findings of the IMF’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended April 1950. The report highlights that the widespread devaluation of currencies that took place in September 1949 was the most far-reaching in any comparable period in recent times. Thirteen members agreed new par values with the IMF, most of them involving a devaluation of approximately 30.5 percent in relation to the U.S. dollar. Six member countries with which the IMF has no agreed par value also depreciated their exchange rates.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: The Economics of Global Turbulence Robert Brenner, 2006-08-17 A commanding survey of the world economy from 1950 to the present, from the author of the acclaimed The Boom and the Bubble.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Overseas Economic Relations and Statehood in Europe, 1860s–1970s Gerold Krozewski, 2023-04-06 Drawing on official, archival, and published sources, this book explores how the formative history of the European nation-state was embedded within economic globalization and associated with conceptions of the world overseas. With a particular focus on France, Germany, Italy, and Britain, this research investigates how overseas relationships shaped state governance. The argument departs from conventional histories by linking together the analysis of economic relationships and political cultures, examining the ways in which state agency formed in different areas such as national economy building, the organization of overseas raw material and food supplies, labour, migration, and national identity. Spanning over a century, the book discusses the changing role of overseas colonies in European national development. Once a means to complete economic liberalization, colonies were then envisaged as tools of crisis management before, in the mid-twentieth century, complementarities in imperial-colonial economies shifted away from empire. This volume covers neglected aspects of the transnational history of European nation-states and is an ideal resource for students and researchers interested in the ties between Europe, Africa, and Asia, as well as connections between political, economic, and social relations and their conceptualizations.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Indonesian Economic Decolonization in Regional and International Perspective J.Th. Lindblad, Peter Post, 2009-01-01 This collection of essays provides insights into the complex process of economic decolonization in Indonesia from a variety of perspectives. The emancipation from Dutch colonialism in the economic sphere is linked to the unique features of the new nation-state emerging in newly independent Indonesia. This included a key role in business for the military. A key part was also played by indigenous Indonesian business firms that were shaped by the Japanese occupation and the Indonesian Revolution. The analysis embraces two types of comparisons. Different experiences of economic decolonization across regions are illustrated by events unfolding in the agricultural estate areas of Deli in North Sumatra and Jember in East Java. Here the focus is on confrontations between private Dutch capital and Indonesian labour unions. In addition, the overall experience of Indonesia is offset against similar processes at work in other former European colonies in Asia, in particular neighbouring Malaysia. The international comparison shows how dramatic and difficult economic decolonization was and also how profound its consequences were. With contributions from Tri Chandra Apriyanto, Anne Booth, Jasper van de Kerkhof, J. Thomas Lindblad (editor), Daan Marks, Peter Post (editor), Bambang Purwanto and Thee Kian Wie.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Exploring the Roots of Systematic Tax Avoidance in Greece Zoi Pittaki, 2021-07-01 This book explores the interaction between business and the system of taxation in Greece, from the mid-1950s up to 2008, the year that marked the eve of the economic crisis the country faced in the aftermath of the international financial crisis of 2007. The evidence presented confirms William Baumol’s point about how taxation affects entrepreneurship. That is, it is shown that Baumol was right when indicating that problematic tax rules can lead to unproductive forms of entrepreneurship, such as tax evasion. However, the focus here is on aspects of the system of taxation that Baumol’s model, examining solely tax rates and levels of taxation, neglected. This book shows that, as far as Greek entrepreneurship is concerned, the adverse effects of the system of taxation came mostly from a series of issues that increased its perceived unfairness and illegitimacy. The way that the tax system functioned also increased uncertainty, which was anything but beneficial for investing in business. This book contributes to the current debates about the Greek economy and the causes of the crisis affecting the country. In this respect, it also throws light on the big issue of tax evasion burdening the country’s fiscal system. However, the research also belongs to the wider literature examining entrepreneurship from a business history perspective, to that focusing on the relation between entrepreneurship and institutions, to the debates regarding the ways entrepreneurship is affected by the socio-political and economic environment but also to institutional analyses about taxation.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Six Crises of the World Economy José A. Tapia, 2024-01-28 This book is about the crises of the world economy that have occurred from the 1970s to the present day. It makes the specific case that the global economy has experienced six crises during this 50-year period. Crises of the global economy are periods of substantial slowdown in world economic activity—as measured by investment, industrial production, trade, or unemployment—in which many national economies are technically in recession. To pose the existence of crises of the global economy implies that the world economy is a real entity with its own dynamics; it implies also that the usual approach that views national economies as the appropriate units of economic analysis has major limitations. The author provides data illustrating the global and regional manifestations of these crises of the world economy, elaborates on the concepts of world economy and economic crisis, and discusses the theories that have been used to explain them. The book shows how these recurrent global crises are discrete, countable phenomena, distinct states of an entity that can be appropriately referred to as the world or global economy, or world capitalism.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: USA and the World 2012 8ed David M. Keithly, 2012-08 Instant interpretive history is a difficult and demanding task, and certainly more of an art than some would suggest. USA and the World endeavors to describe not only what happened, but to put events in the context of the past and to criticize policy actions as appropriate. The result goes deeper than most of what appears in current publications. USA and the World is solid enough to be useful for those who write future books in due course. It is meant for the lay reader, but with a special eye to students of all ages.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: The Political Economy of Germany in the Twentieth Century Karl Hardach, 1980-01-01
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: The British Economy Since 1700: A Macroeconomic Perspective C. H. Lee, 1986-12-18 This book provides a comprehensive study on the development of the British economy from early eighteenth century onwards.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Political Economy and the Labour Party Noel W. Thompson, 2006 This book examines British socialist political economies and the way in which they have influenced economic thinking within the Labour Party from the Fabianism at the beginning of the century to the Blairism of today.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Political Economy and the Labour Party, 2nd Edition Noel Thompson, 2006-09-27 `In Political Economy and the Labour Party, Noel Thompson gives an informative and stimulating outline of the ideas and theories that have shaped the party’s economic policy since 1900.’ - Times Literary Supplement A new edition of the American Library Association's `Outstanding Academic Book' award winner. This new volume brings this study of the rich tradition of British socialist political economy and its influence on the British Labour Party fully up-to-date. Surveying the Labour tradition from the Fabianism of the Webbs to the `social-ism’ of Tony Blair’s Third Way, this new edition considers the critical engagement of these political economies with capitalism and the policies they articulate. It also discusses the manner in which they influence, or establish the context for, Labour’s economic thinking and policymaking and traces the ideological trajectory British social democratic political economy over the course of the twentieth century. In its concluding chapter this volume assesses the present character of the political economy advanced by the Labour Party and raises the question as to whether it can any longer be considered part of the social democratic tradition. This is an essential new edition of this now standard text for students taking courses on the history of political and economic thought and, more generally, courses on the political and intellectual history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: A Political Explanation of Economic Growth ongping Wu, 2020-03-17 Taiwan is a classic case of export-led industrialization. But unlike South Korea and Japan, where large firms have been the major exporters, before the late 1980s Taiwan’s successful exporters were overwhelmingly small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The SMEs became the engine of the entire economy, yet for many years the state virtually ignored the SMEs and their role as exporters. What factors account for the success of the SMEs and their benign neglect by the state? The key was a strict division of labor: state and large private enterprises jointly monopolized the domestic market. This gave the SMEs a free run in export markets. How did this industrial structure come into being? The author argues that it was an unintended consequence of the state’s policy toward the private sector and its political strategies for managing societal forces. Indeed, Taiwan’s unique industrial structure was shaped by both the witting and the unwitting interactions of the state and the private sector. Moreover, as the author shows, this industrial policy was a product of the internal politics of the economic bureaucracy, and the formulation and implementation of economic policy hinged on mechanisms for solving differences within the state.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Australia in the Global Economy David Meredith, Barrie Dyster, 2000-01-17 This up-to-date volume considers Australian economic development in light of worldwide political and social developments, arguing that the Australian economy is an integral part of the world economy and subject to the same trends across the globe. The book also focuses on domestic factors that have shaped the growth of the Australian economy, such as the growth of exports, the role of foreign capital, and the positive contribution of migrants. The authors also consider the Gulf Wars, the East Asian financial crisis, and globalization.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Urban Geography in America, 1950-2000 Brian J.L Berry, James Wheeler, 2014-05-01 Urban Geography in America offers a comprehensive historiography of this major field. Compiling the best essays from the flagship journal Urban Geography , it shows the evolution of the field from the 1950s to 2000, as it shifted from data-driven social science modeling in the 1960s to the more critical perspectives of the 1970s to postmodernism in the 1980s to feminism and globalization in the 1990s. It covers all the major trends and figures, and features some of the most important names in the field. Ultimately, this will be a necessary reference for all scholars in the field and all graduate students taking introductory courses and preparing for their comprehensive exams.
  what was the economy like in the 1950s: Eisenhower and the Management of Prosperity John W. Sloan, 1991 Three years out of eight, President Eisenhower achieved a balanced budget.