In my new book, The Pathology of the U.S. Economy Revisited, I tried to make the case that this success rested, in part, on prior conditions: a new capital stock coming out of the Great Depression and World War II, the destruction of competing economies, and a very favorable debt structure.
"William S. Lear" wrote: > > James Galbraith and Tom Ferguson have a paper looking wage structure > and government policy that seems to come to a different conclusion: > "The American Wage Structure: 1920-1947", Research in Economic > History, Volume 19, pages 205-257 (Stamford Connecticut, 1999), > Alexander J. Field, ed. They look at unemployment, the exchange rate, > strikes, and other variables and conclude that "policy makers after > World War II managed to avoid the worst macroeconomic mistakes of the > earlier period. Encouraged by the post-war strike wave, the spread of > Keynes' views, the beginning of the Cold War and later the war in > Korea, they maintained high levels of aggregate demand and employment > nearly consistently for 25 years, if rarely attaining 'full > employment'". I think policy has a strong and potentially positive > role to play in quick recovery from and prevention of major > recessions. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
