ABSTRACT
In the wake of the 1930s depression and the World War that followed, the leading capitalist economies enjoyed a “golden age of economic performance” (Glyn et al., 1991) extending from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, however, the conditions that produced such prosperity unraveled, torn asunder by the rising inflation and unemployment rates experienced in most OECD countries through the mid-1980s:
After 1973 there was a deterioration in the performance of the world economy and the industrial countries within it. Whilst investment in capital stock held up reasonably well to 1979 … output, productivity, and export growth all fell sharply, instability in export volumes and GDP increased, and unemployment and inflation both rose. Even so, performance during the period 1973–79 still looks comparatively good in long term historical perspective. The position deteriorated radically after 1979.
(Glyn et al., 1991, p. 45)