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Post-war reconstruction and the Golden Age of economic growth

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  • VONYÓ, TAMà S

Abstract

This article briefly reviews the core literature on the Golden Age of economic growth and tests the explanatory power of alternative theories against one another, with particular emphasis on the reconstruction thesis as developed by Jánossy. While previous empirical work on the subject relied on cross-sectional analysis, I employ panel-data techniques, which produce more robust estimates. I demonstrate that, for the core western industrialised nations, the rapidity and variety of economic growth during the 1950s and 1960s can mostly be explained by post-war reconstruction, the completion of which marked the end of the Golden Age. Labour-force expansion also made a very strong positive contribution. In the more peripheral countries of the OECD, however, rapid catching-up from the late 1950s was largely brought about by structural modernisation. Finally, human-capital accumulation has had a determining impact on long-run growth potentials, modelled here as time-constant country-fixed effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Vonyã“, Tamã S, 2008. "Post-war reconstruction and the Golden Age of economic growth," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 221-241, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:ereveh:v:12:y:2008:i:02:p:221-241_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Joan R Rosés & Nikolaus Wolf, 2021. "Regional growth and inequality in the long-run: Europe, 1900–2015," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 37(1), pages 17-48.
    2. Nicholas Crafts & Pieter Woltjer, 2021. "Growth Accounting In Economic History: Findings, Lessons And New Directions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 670-696, July.
    3. Lepore, Amedeo, 2012. "L’andamento della spesa per l’intervento straordinario nel Mezzogiorno d’Italia, dalla golden age alla fine del XX secolo. (The trends in the expenditures of the extraordinary intervention in southern," De Computis "Revista Española de Historia de la Contabilidad". De Computis "Spanish Journal of Accounting History"., Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas (AECA). Spanish Accounting and Business Administration Association., issue 16, pages 76-119, June.
    4. Wolf, Nikolaus & Rosés, Joan R., 2018. "Regional Economic Development in Europe, 1900-2010: a description of the Patterns," CEPR Discussion Papers 12749, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Eric Bengtsson & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2018. "Wages, income distribution and economic growth in Scandinavia," Working Papers PKWP1811, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    6. Leonard Kukić, 2018. "Socialist growth revisited: insights from Yugoslavia," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 403-429.
    7. Paidipaty, Poornima & Ramos Pinto, Pedro, 2021. "Revisiting the “Great Levelling”: the limits of Piketty’s Capital and Ideology for understanding the rise of late 20th century inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 110941, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Claire Giordano & Francesco Zollino, 2021. "Long‐Run Factor Accumulation And Productivity Trends In Italy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 741-803, July.
    9. Leonard Kukić, 2021. "The Nature Of Technological Failure: Patterns Of Biased Technical Change In Socialist Europe," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 895-925, July.
    10. Piotr Koryś, 2015. "The State as an Entrepreneur: Reorientation of the Economic Policy of the Republic of Poland in Late 1930s and the Development of State Capitalism," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 42.
    11. Cirer Costa, Joan Carles, 2019. "The Crumbling of Francoist Spain’s Isolationism Thanks to Foreign Currency Brought by European Tourists in the Early Years of the Golden Age," MPRA Paper 95578, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Bruno Dallago, 2009. "Analysis, interpretation, and the local dimension of economic transformation: What went wrong and why?," Openloc Working Papers 0913, Public policies and local development.

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