ABSTRACT
By international standards, Britain’s growth performance in the 1950s and 1960s was relatively poor. Between 1955 and 1972, industrial output grew at an annual rate of 2·5 per cent compared with almost 6 per cent in the EEC. International comparisons of income levels raise numerous problems relating to the definition and valuation of items, the differences in leisure, externalities, the mix of consumption and investment goods, employment levels and the distribution of income.1 Nevertheless, whichever indicator of growth is used, be it GDP, or GDP per head or per man hour, the UK remains at the bottom of the international league table.
