Western Europe's Postwar Boom

Western Europe's recovery from the devastation and dislocations of the Second World War was achieved by the early 1950's, since by then prewar levels of national output had been re-attained. As is well known, this basic recovery was followed by over a decade of unprecedented economic expansion. In terms of Gross National Product (GNP), growth rates for the area as a whole averaged close to five percent annually. In terms of product per head of population, the advances were still more impressive by historical standards.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website

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