ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines three separate theories of secular decline. It explains why one might expect western capitalist economies to have begun the kind of decline described by Cipolla and each of which has some relevant things to say about the conditions within which the postwar inflation has taken place. Trade associations respond to declining demand by lobbying for protection from foreign competition rather than by cutting prices and are supported in their efforts by their unionized workers. In Fred Hirsch's account the effect of the distributional struggle is to shift the supply curve of labor to the left as workers demand ever higher wages in an attempt to secure the kinds of income that the acquisition of positional goods requires. Mancur Olson attributes secular decline to the accumulation of distributional coalitions.
