Outlined in previous sections, in terms of GDP, Germany outperformed the United Kingdom in the Golden Age by a vast amount. Consequently the important question to ask is, what were the causes of such a great difference in GDP between the two countries mentioned, during that period of time.
Although the UK made several mistakes, resulting in their disappointing performance, Germany’s success in the Golden age is the main reason for such a difference in gross domestic product and therefore the main talking point when it comes to economic analysis.
As one determinant of GDP is exports, it is relevant to discuss the matter with relevance to the UK and Germany. As mention in the literature review, during 1955-1960 exports in Germany
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In addition, Germany’s growing labour force, from immigrants pre-Berlin wall, assisted in creating wage moderation and this helped to sustain German investment. By contrast, the UK had a society that lacked national unions together with a government that was incapable of harmonizing wage bargaining. The UK, at the end of 1950, had more than seven hundred separate trade unions and only 186 were affiliated with the Trade union Congress (Eichengreen, 2007 p 123). For this reason, the power of the TUC was very limited as fragmented relations meant industries simply set wages at what they liked with no regard to the economy. Consequently owners, unsure of their future, paid out profits rather than invested in capacity expansion and modernization. The UK’s difficulty in stimulating investment, economy-wide resulted in chronic pressure on wages. As such the UK saw unit labour costs rise by 50%, whereas Germany’s hardly rose (Eichengreen, 2007 p96). Although the UK government sought union assent to a pro-growth program of wage restraint, it was rejected by the TUC. The UK didn’t adopt planning strategies for investment in mobility so it suffered. In contrast Germany’s free market orientation made it a success. Furthermore, the German government provided tax breaks for investment but not for firms paying out profit as dividends. This further increased the
In comparison with other competitive countries, Britain’s economy was also lagging behind. One aspect was that Britain’s GDP growth rate was the lowest in Western
There are four factors that contribute to the Gilded Age being ‘gilded’ instead of golden. The first factor is that the rapid growth of
The Gilded Age was a very special time for our nation that took place from the 1870s to around 1900. During this time, economic growth was at a rapid increase, politics were corrupted yet had high turnouts, and urbanization flourished. Every aspect of the life of an American changed drastically throughout this time of the Gilded Age. The entire era was focused on the enormous changes that each aspect of America was going through. As this is brought to attention, if we are to look into the way that America is in our time of today, we can find that there are many similarities to that of the original Gilded Age. The United States of America have currently found themselves to be experiencing the second era of the Gilded Age throughout the areas of economic, politic and social transformation.
There are four factors that contribute to the Gilded Age being ‘gilded’ instead of golden. The first factor is that the rapid growth of economics created a wide-range of wealth. The second factor is that new products and technologies improved the quality of life for the middle class. Third, industrial workers and farmers
In the mid 30’s Germany was in a perpetual state of economic decline. The First World War had decimated all economic growth, increased inflation, and made unemployment an all-time high. From the suffering of
Germany’s economic situation plummeted after World War I because of the reparations the country paid, along with the disarmament of its military and cease on all military production (Garrison). Germany was desperate for help,
Following the Second World War, Germany was rebuilt out of practically nothing into one of the richest countries of the world. This well-known transformation is known as the "Wirtschaftswunder" (wonder of economics). Yet in the recent reunification of West and East Germany, German leadership has ignored crucial lessons from this successful period of transformation. Three problems highlight this claim:
The development of the European economy since 1945 to the present day has been significant as much change has occurred during this period of time. The first and possibly most interesting development that occurred during this time that I will write about is ‘The Golden age’. The Golden age transpired post World War II in the time period 1950-1973 and was a period of great economic growth within Europe. There were several reasons for the growth and development of the European economy during this time period and I will discuss each in detail throughout my essay with the support of scholarly articles and book chapters relevant to the development of the European economy throughout these
13. Discuss how Great Britain's macroeconomic growth lagged that of other countries since the 2nd Industrial Revolution. Which countries had higher growth rates and due to innovations in which industries? Compare the growth of British per capita income to that of other nations.
John D Clare shows us that there was a growth in Trade Unions and strikes as the new wave of socialism caused workers to not put up with the appalling conditions, and used their indispensability to negotiate better conditions and wages. This was a good thing for the workers but for the owners of factories this was not good as it cost the company money from the economic disruptions strikes caused and having to increase wages or spend money on facilities. Also, the war disrupted the recruitment and training of workers creating long-term bad effects on the quality of British workmanship and
The Medieval Growth Trends show a great sign of hope.the Total population of France chart, shows that the population went up by a considerable able, about half a million in two hundred years. After that the population kept growing and eventually reached sixteen million. Another chart, Some Estimated Economic Indicators in Medieval England shows signs of hope as well. The chart shows that in less than 300 years, the amount of households went up by over one million, population went up by about four million, the GDP went up by about 4.5 million, “coinage” went up by about ₤900,000, and GDP per capita went up by about eight thousand. All of this increasing data was very good. The population going up meant less people were dying from disease. With
Over the course of a decade, Weimar Germany went through a period of unprecedented economic chaos. Under the Treaty of Versailles, the Entente powers prohibited German weapons manufacturing, effectively muzzling military production, which was the engine of economic growth throughout WWI. In 1923, hyperinflation led to the hypertrophic growth of prices as the exchange rate reached $1 = 4.2 trillion marks. Climaxing with a catastrophic depression, unemployment in Germany soared to nearly 30% by 1932. As a result, the famous Potsdamer Platz was frequently filled with vociferous debate over all things financial. In his seminal economic history of the 1920s, Martin Geyer not only described Germany’s postwar economy as chaotic, but as a “world
The EU and UK are undeniably close trade partners seeing as the EU makes for a large proportion of trade deficit with the UK as of 2014. Nonetheless, strong economic growth in many non-EU emerging economies has resulted in important trade activity with these non-EU countries, eating into proportion accounted for by EU since 1999, despite the value of EU trade increasing. The sheer growth in UK’s trade volume is reflected in the downward trend in Graphs 1, 2, & 3 below.
Scholars Being Justified in Using the Term Golden Age to Describe the Economic History of Western Europe During 1950-1973
Trade imbalances. Appendix Table 2 shows that from 1999 to 2007, German unit labor costs fell by five percent, while these costs rose by 20 percent in Greece, 41 percent in Ireland, 19 percent in Italy, 22 percent in Portugal and 28 percent in Spain. These competitiveness gaps offered Germany a huge advantage in the trade, making it a better public