ABSTRACT
Contemporaries attributed the stability and growth of this period to liberal world trading conditions and to government policies which were often loosely described as 'Keynesian'. As growth and full employment continued through the 1950s into the 1960s, the military and strategic threats of the Cold War seemed more likely to undermine the prosperity of western Europe than did internal or international economic pressures in the West. However, hostilities did not break out and western Europe was spared the impact of external events comparable to those of 1914 and 1939.
