Capitalism Since 1945

This book charts the development of capitalism in the post-war period and describes the challenges that the system has faced since 1945. It describes the measures that were taken to deal with the post-war slump and the ways in which most capitalist economies achieved steady growth and affluence in the 1950s and 1960s. It goes on to show how this boom was undermined by unemployment ensued.

List of Figures ix List of Tables xi Preface iv PART I: Postwar Reconstruction, 1945-1950 1 1 Chaos and Despair 3 2 Behind the Chaos 6 The means to produce 7 Workers 7 War damage 8 Investment 8 Bottlenecks 10 Capital and labour 11 The United States and the United Kingdom 12 Japan and Germany 16 Italy and France 20 International relations 22 Relations betmeen the advanced countries 22 The colonies 23 Relations mith the USSR 24 3 Great Power Policies 27 Uncle Sam out for himself 27 Aid to Europe and Japan 28 International money and trade systems 30 US occupation policy 31 Uncle Joe in control 35 People's democracy 36 4 The First Two Years 38 Investment and wages 38 Japan 41 Germany 47 Italy 52 France 56 The United Kingdom 60 5 Marshall Aid: the United States Changes Tack 68 Europe's crisis? 68 Economic problems in the United States 73 US labour 75 How the Marshall Plan worked 78 6 The New Turn in Europe and Japan 81 France 84 Italy 87 Japan 90 Germany 94 The United Kingdom 101 Summary 105 7 Towards the Boom 106 The US recession 106 The 1949 devaluations 107 The Korean upswing 108 Investment and the boom 109 PART II: The Great Boom, 1950-1974 115 8 The Golden Years 117 Workers and means of production 118 Profits 119 Profit shares and rates 119 Production and realization 120 Wages 122 Why wages rose 124 Exports 126 Government spending 126 Investment 127 The Japanese economic miracle 129 9 A New, Managed Capitalism? 136 The welfare state 137 German codetermination 141 French economic planning 143 Japanese industrial policy 146 Conclusions 150 10 The Eclipse of US Domination 151 The growth of trade 153 International oligopoly 154 US business slips back 155 Lom accumulation at home 158 Investment abroad 160 The boom, Bretton Woods and the dollar 162 US gains 163 Costs of maintaining the dollar 165 International monetary reform 166 11 Overaccumulation 169 Development of the working class 169 The late 1960s: the problem of full employment 172 Tight labour markets 172 Accumulation and the demand for labour 173 The profits squeeze 176 Productivity growth 177 Product wages 179 International competition 180 Falling output-capital ratio 181 Falling rate of profit 182 Post-tax profits 184 Did workers gain? 185 Inflation 187 12 Overheating 192 Strike waves and wage explosions 192 Italy's Hot Autumn 196 May 1968 200 Clampdown and the 1970-1 recession 207 The break-up of Bretton Woods 207 Dollar devaluation 210 The surplus countries 211 US competitiveness and payments 212 The 1972-3 mini-boom 215 The commodities boom 217 The grain market 218 End of an era 220 13 Oil and the Crash of 1974 221 The oil crisis 221 The crash 225 PART III: Coping with the Slowdown, 1974- 231 14 The Great Slowdown 233 Why growth has slowed 234 Consumers to blame ... 234 Or foreigners ... 236 ... Or governments? 236 Investment 237 Stagnation of productivity and rising unemployment 240 The productivity crisis 240 The rise in unemployment 243 De-industrialization and structural change 244 Women's and men's employment 247 Profits 248 Profitability and accumulation 251 Inflation and unemployment 254 Finance and the legacy of Government debt 256 Consumer debt 257 Financing productive investment 258 15 Workers and the Organization of Production 262 Unions and strikes 262 Relocating production 267 From Fordism to Toyotaism 269 Conclusion 280 16 International Relations 282 The Eastern bloc 282 The less developed countries 284 The oil producers 287 The nemly industrializing countries 288 The debt crisis 290 The advanced countries 295 Trade 296 1992 298 Foreign investment 300 International money 301 17 Reversing the Consensus 305 Restrictive monetary and fiscal policy 307 Cutting down the state 310 Tax cuts 312 Privatization 314 Deregulation 317 Deregulation of the labour market 318 Has it worked? 320 18 Against the Tide 322 Attempts at expanding demand 322 Market forces and the problems of expansion 324 Radical measures to curb market forces 327 Inflation and wages 327 The balance of payments and speculation 328 Industrial policy 328 Distributing the results of slower growth 332 Conclusions 339 19 Capitalism Triumphant? 340 Data Appendix 344 Sources 359 Bibliography 368 Index 383