Economic Policy and Performance in Europe 1913-1970 [antikvár]

Economic Policy and Performance in Europe 1913-1970 The average European in 1970 had a real income three times as high as in 1913, but the improvement in living standards was by no means steady over the six decades. From 1913 to 1950, output per head rose by only i per cent a year. Since 1950 the rise has been four times as fast. Experience varied from country to country, but the marked acceleration of the post-war period was felt everywhere, as is obvious from Table i. This chapter attempts to explain the reasons for these variations in economic performance with particular reference to the role of government policy. The analysis is concentrated on experience in the capitalist countries, but the statistical material covers the whole of Europe. Growth in output per head does not necessarily mean an equivalent increase in consumption per head. The latter has increased somewhat more slowly for two reasons; (a) certain European countries receive a smaller income from the rest of the world than they did in 1913 when they had large overseas Empires; (b) a bigger proportion of output is devoted to investment. France, Germany, the Netherlands and U.K. now receive less in real terms from overseas investments than in 1913 because of wartime losses of foreign assets and inflation.^ In the U.K., income from abroad added 10 per cent to domestic product in 1913 and a negligible amount in 1970. French income from abroad probably added I In 1913 overseas assets were about $18-3 billion for the U.K., $8-7 billion for France, $5-6 billion for Germany and about $2 billion for the Netherlands. Russia was a debtor to the tune of $4 billion. Figures for first three countries from H. Feis Europe The World's Banker, Norton, New York, 1965. Russia from P. A. Khromov, Ekonomicheskoye Razvitiye Rossie, Moscow, 1967. The Netherlands figure is my estimate derived by capitalising the income flow at 5% : income figures from iSgg-igsg Zestigjaren Statistiek in Tijdreeksen, Zeisi, 1959. E.P.P.E.-A2 [5]