ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the theory of energy rents developed in Beaudreau is used to examine economic growth and income distribution in the Post-Second World War period. The economic growth and stability of the Post-Second World War period gave way to two decades of weak growth, virtually no per-capita output growth and, not surprisingly, rising social and political tensions. The events of the post-energy crisis period have been studied separately. Until, no one has attempted to provide an integrated view of globalization automation, the information and communications technology revolution increasing income inequity, and the failure of Western industrialized economies to return to pre-energy crisis growth levels. Specifically, the problem of income distribution can be understood as a cooperative bargaining game involving the owners of energy and organization over the resulting energy rents, per se. Per-capita income growth is shown to be highly co-linear with per-capita energy consumption as measured by per-capita electric power consumption.
