ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some of the economic changes experienced by Britain in the 1950s. It considers the extent to which fears of decline were justified. The chapter assesses the impact of such fears, whether real or imagined, on economic policy and, in doing so, to reassess the traditional view of the Treasury in this period. It argues that too little importance has been attached to the rapid increase in British living standards at this time and that 'declinism' in the 1950s overstated the problem of Britain's relative economic decline since the war. As the years 1948 to 1973 have receded they have come increasingly to be seen as a 'golden age' of economic development. With this shift has come an increasing emphasis on the experience of 'affluence' rather than on Britain's economic 'decline': in other words the focus is increasingly on absolute growth rather than on relative decline.
