Capitalism since world war II

The fortunes of the advanced capitalist countries have undergone two astonishing turnabouts during the forty or so years since World War U. In 1945 few commentators thought the economic and political system could survive. Yet living standards grew faster in the 1950s and 1960s than ever before. Economic success bred political conformity as left and right sang the praises of the 'mixed economy'. Just as unexpectedly to those lulled into a false sense of security by the great boom, rising inflation in the
1970s, followed by mass unemployment, heralded today's deepening economic problems and growing political polarization.
This readable and challenging book analyses these three' postwar phases, focusing on the United States, Western Europe and Japan. It looks at how the European and Japanese employers had first to struggle to regain control of the shop floor; the mechanisms that sustained the 'golden years' and the forces that undermined them; the decline of the USA and
the rise of Japan; the present responses of the new right and the left to the failure of . conventional economic policies. The authors use contemporary accounts, a strong narrative and fresh data to draw a graphic picture of capital accumulation and class
conflict. They confront issues at the heart of current economic and political debate, and put forward new and controversial these~.