American Capitalism, 1945–2000: Continuity and Change from Mass Production to the Information Society (American Ways) - Softcover

Wells, Wyatt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1566635381 ISBN 13: 9781566635387

Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, 2004

Synopsis

The record of the American economy since 1945 offers an embarrassment of riches for the historian, and Wyatt Wells has brought them together in a compact and incisive history. His theme is how greatly many economic circumstances changed—and how many other features remained essentially the same. He shows how throughout the period the United States enjoyed not only the world's largest economy but by most measures its most diverse and sophisticated. The second half of the twentieth century witnessed extraordinary change: the development of entirely new industries, such as television and computers; the decline of established industries, such as steel and textiles; the impact of international trade and competition on growing numbers of Americans. As the boom of the 1950s and 1960s gave way to "stagflation" in the 1970s, the 1980s became a time of extensive reorganization, which in turn laid the foundation for another boom in the 1990s. Still, as Mr. Wells notes, industry remained in private hands; political debate consistently returned to the same issues involving the proper role of government in the economy; and the country remained committed to an open international economic system. American Capitalism examines the development of economic policy (government spending, taxes, regulation, and monetary policy), economic structure (companies, markets, technology, and labor), and ideas about both, explaining the complex interaction of these factors over the past half-century. The book offers an essential short course on American economic development over these years.

About this title

About the Author:

Wyatt Wells is distinguished research associate professor of history at Auburn University, Montgomery. His other books include Antitrust and the Formation of the Postwar World and Economist in an Uncertain World. He lives in Montgomery, Alabama.

From Booklist:

"Ultimately a country's wealth depends not on what it has but on what it is," declares Wells, an academic. Using U.S. economic development in the second half of the twentieth century as a case study in achieving prosperity, he teaches that capitalism was unchallenged as massive reorganizations accompanied the development of new products and the upgrading of existing ones. Although such efforts also resulted in the dislocation of workers, markets, and capital, the author contends that this approach is the only way to avoid economic stagnation. Radical changes in the U.S. economy occurred during the period 1945-73, when the size of the workforce and GDP made extraordinary gains with intensive application of mass-production techniques. The economic slow-down during the 1970s forced companies into vast reorganizations and radical new business practices, and by the late 1990s new operating systems requiring flexibility were developed for broad-based growth. Wells cautions that continued prosperity requires the acceptance of inevitable dislocations and society's support of innovative entrepreneurs. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1566635381
• ISBN 13: 9781566635387
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224