Did the UK have only 3% growth in the post-war years (1951-1970)?

https://books.google.com/books?id=i...ar in the late 1960s and early 1970s"&f=false

' . . . reaching a climacteric of over 3 per cent a year in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Total economic output rose by 83 per cent between 1951 and 1973, . . . '
Running the numbers, I see that 83% overall growth over 22 years is about equal to 2.8 per cent growth each year.

Great for a mature economy in normal times, but not for the go-go post war years. This book seems to think it's good. I very much disagree.
 

Archibald

Banned
From memory, Great Britain was the first country in the world to get into the Inudstrial Revolution (steel, coal, and steam) and accordingly, the first to suffer from that industry decline, right from 1945. No 30 glorieuses for them.
 
UK had the misfortune of not being one of the losers, but winners. As UK was relatively unscathed it did not have the rapid growth from almost zero up as did France, Germany, Italy or Japan. If you take a look on Maddison's GDP data you see that in 1950 UK was much richer, 1960 a little richer than WE average, by 1970 close to average etc. It was not as much as UK being behind but also a case of others catching up.

By 1973:
UK 12025 GKD
WG 11866
Fr 12824
It 10414
W-Europe 12070
Japan 11434

For me at least it seems good going.
 
Running the numbers, I see that 83% overall growth over 22 years is about equal to 2.8 per cent growth each year.

Great for a mature economy in normal times, but not for the go-go post war years. This book seems to think it's good. I very much disagree.

Official figures:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ihyp/pn2

The annual growth rates between 1951 and 1973 average out at 3.3%.

Compounding would increase the total growth over that period.
 
... and accordingly, the first to suffer from that [steel] industry decline, right from 1945.
For the steel industry at least it had less to do with their being first movers and more to do with weaknesses on the part of both management and the workforce/unions post-WWII. The introduction of new technology, such basic oxygen steel making which was significantly faster and required less manpower, was always a very tortuous process.
 
. . . Great Britain was the first country in the world to get into the Inudstrial Revolution (steel, coal, and steam) and accordingly, the first to suffer from that industry decline, right from 1945. . . .
I think a lot of the U.S. middle-class success was the auto industry.
 
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