ABSTRACT
Professional economics grew and flourished on an unprecedented scale, especially in North America, after the end of World War II. At the same time, the Western industrial nations were enjoying a period of continuous growth and high employment, interrupted only by brief and shallow recessions and accompanied by only a mild rate of inflation in the price level. In the old Marshallian theory there had been a discussion of 'welfare' and it was admitted that a given flow of production of commodities would provide more 'satisfaction' to a given human population the more equally it was distributed amongst the consumers concerned. Marshall himself favoured a more equal distribution of national income provided it could be brought about without any revolutionary upheaval. Marshall knew that the main source of finance for the growth of a business is reinvestment of its own profits, but he refused to accept the corollary that any business which gets good start will go on growing indefinitely.
