Growth in the U.K. Economy :: Economics Britain Essays

Growth in the U.K. Economy aft(prenominal) the Second World War, Britain enjoyed the longest boom in itshistory until the 1973-74 embrocate crisis. There are many, though, who donot view this as a prosperous period of Britains history. AlthoughBritain experienced unprecedented fruit, its respect of return was drawn-out than that for many some other countries. It is therefore debatableas to whether this was a successful period of Britains history ornot. This essay will examine the statistics of Britains ingathering afterthe Second World War and compare this to statistics for othercountries as well as statistics from Britains past. This will provideevidence to accurately valuate Britains growth achievement during thisperiod. The essay will also examine practical reasons for Britainsrelative nightfall such as demand management political relation policies,balance of payments problems, an over reliance on traditionalmanufacturing industries, low enthronement in capital stock, Trade Unionpower, poor management, poor demarcation structure and a poor educationsystem.The 25 years from 1948 to 1973 produced growth faster than had beenseen in any previous period of equivalent length. During this period, palpable gross domestic product doubled. The increase in the average growth rate from 2% to 2.8% shows that UKproductivity increased considerably. During the 1950s, there were noconcerns close to the UK growth rate. The standard of living was stillhigher than that of any other europium dry land except Belgium and higherthan it had ever been in Britains history. It was doubly as high asItaly and 50% higher than West Germany.When compared to the performance of other countries, though, UK growthrates are less impressive. Other EEC countries had growth ratesroughly double that of the UK, between 5% and 6%. This caused greatconcern amongst many politicians and economists at the time. Mosteconomists look abide on the period as a fai lure. Elbaum and Lazonick,two North American economists say If there is much to be learnedfrom the Japanese success, it is our article of faith that the United Statesmay have even more to learn from the decline of Britain The significance of a difference of 3% in the growth rate is that, iftwo countries have a level start, the faster growing country will havetwice the output of the slower country in 25 years. This showed thatBritain was in relative decline and justified some of the fears of