For some twenty years after the Second World War, Keynesian economic policies in countries of the capitalist West were successful in generating rapid growth with high employment. This `golden age of capitalism' did not survive the economic traumas of the 1970s; nor has the more recent emphasis on monetarist policies and supply-side performance succeeded in regenerating comparable growth rates. Blending historical analysis with economic theory, this book seeks to understand the making and unmaking of this `golden age', questions the basis of much present policy-making, and suggests alternative directions for policy.

Readership: Economic policy-makers and their advisers in national and international bodies; academics in economics, economic history, and political science.

Edited by Stephen A. Marglin and Juliet B. Schor, both Professors of Economics, Harvard University

"`this is a helpful book, addressing a central question which should be of concern to all economists' British Review of Economic Issues"

"'first rate, commands attention, and deserves a very wide readership' Roger Middleton, University of Bristol, Economic History Review, Volume XLIV, No. 1 February 1991"

"`The work has a refreshing breadth' Development Policy Review"

"`This is a notable book, overall, and one which should stay on as a handy reference for developments which occurred - between, and within OECD economies - till up to about 1987. The quality of the contributions, each one by authorities in the field, is uniformly high. The stress on political economy aspects, and the avoidance of `economism' is particularly refreshing.' Economic Times"

"'This volume is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the nature of capitalist development in the advanced economies since the second world war ... this volume is a useful starting point for anyone attempting to discover the parameters of the golden age of capitalism.' John Armitage, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, Review of Political Economy 6.2"