Post–World War II economic expansion
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"The postwar economic miracle (1945-1975) of Europe was called the 'trente glorieuses' with hindsight. It ended with the first oil crisis."--Sholem Stein |
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The post–World War II economic expansion, also known as the postwar economic boom, the long boom, was a period of strong economic growth beginning after World War II and ending with the 1973–75 recession. The United States, Soviet Union, Western European and East Asian countries in particular experienced unusually high and sustained growth, together with full employment. Contrary to early predictions, this high growth also included many countries that had been devastated by the war, such as Japan (Japanese post-war economic miracle), West Germany and Austria (Wirtschaftswunder), France (Trente Glorieuses), Italy (Italian economic miracle), Greece (Greek economic miracle), Taiwan (Taiwan Miracle) and South Korea (Miracle of the Han River).
Effects
The post-war economic boom had many social, cultural, and political effects (not least of which was the demographic bulge termed the baby boom). Movements and phenomena associated with this period include the height of the Cold War, postmodernism, decolonisation, a marked increase in consumerism, the welfare state, the space race, the Non-Aligned Movement, import substitution, counterculture of the 1960s, opposition to the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the sexual revolution, the beginning of second-wave feminism, and a nuclear arms race. In the United States, the middle-class began a mass migration away from the cities and towards the suburbs. Thus, it can be summed up as a period of prosperity in which most people could enjoy a job for life, a house and a family.
In the West, there emerged a near-complete consensus against strong ideology and a belief that technocratic and scientific solutions could be found to most of humanity's problems, a view advanced by US President John F. Kennedy in 1962. This optimism was symbolized through such events as the 1964 New York World's Fair, and Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs, which aimed at eliminating poverty in the United States.
See also
- Post-war consensus, in Britain
- Post–Cold War era