Imagining economic growth in post-war Britain

Tomlinson, J. (2023) Imagining economic growth in post-war Britain. Twentieth-Century British History, (doi: 10.1093/tcbh/hwad049) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

This article contends that common representations of the history of the British economy and economic policy in the ‘Golden Age’ period (circa 1950–73) as a story of ‘failure’ rely overwhelmingly on one measure, that of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Drawing on the foundational criticisms of this metric made by Simon Kuznets, it is argued that, for this period of British economic history, shortfalls in measured GDP growth in comparison with other rich countries are a very poor measure of changes in economic well-being in the UK. If we follow this argument and discard the belief that one metric can summarize trends in such well-being, the notion of ‘failure’ in this period should be set aside in favour of a more nuanced, multidimensional assessment.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Tomlinson, Professor Jim
• Authors: Tomlinson, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Economic and Social History
• Journal Name: Twentieth-Century British History
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• ISSN: 0955-2359
• ISSN (Online): 1477-4674
• Published Online: 31 May 2023