European Industrial Policies in the Post-War Boom: ‘Planning the Economic Miracle’

Abstract

The ‘Thirty Glorious Years’ of 1945–75 saw unprecedented European prosperity on the back of unique economic growth. Was it the result of good luck, fortuitously benign international relations or carefully planned policies? ‘Planning’ was fashionable for much of the period and is definitely not now. What exactly is or was this ‘planning’? Was it simply intellectual fashion, or was planning a major contribution to the boom, a key component of industrial policy? Industrial policy covers a broad range of policies and there are different understandings of what the term means. So first some definitions are set out — before a broad conception is chosen. Then the pattern of European industrial production at the beginning of the period is described, together with the enormous scope for ‘catch up’ growth. Germany and Britain dominated European industrial production in 1950, but outside Europe, the United States had been extending its productivity lead for three decades. The opportunities for rapid European economic growth and industrial development lay in absorbing the techniques and organizations behind this lead.