Europe : Economic Resurgence



With free market economy reintroduced, MARSHALL PLAN money available, high wages being paid and demand for almost all products being seemingly insatiable, in the capitalist economies of western and central Europe the economy boomed. People, after years of hardship, indulged in an EATING SPREE; after years of having been squeezed with several families into one apartment they moved into apartments/housing of their own, spending on furniture and decoration, then on electric appliances, on transportation (motorbykes, cars), then on tvs, then on vacations. Living standard soon exceeded that of prewar levels.
In the middle of the 1950es unemployment sank dramatically, to under 0.5 % in the FRG (FULL EMPLOYMENT); a consequence of the economic boom was LABOUR MIGRATION, another one further rising wages which enabled the consumers to consume more.
There was a widespread confidence in the economic boom, believed by many to last forever. Excessive demands for pay increases and a cut in working hours, an extension of vacation days were one consequence. In the FRG the state employment agency, in order to meet the industry's demand for workforce, advertized, suggesting housewives to reenter the labour market. Other advertisements by the same agency promoted RATIONALIZATION by the industry. Some politicians suggested to move certain production facilities abroad.

By the mid 1960es, supply matched demand in several sectors. Europe's coal mines found themselves in a crisis, as many industries and consumers switched to oil, and overseas coal, produced in open-cast mining, was cheaper; the Dutch coal mines were shut down completely, those in Belgium, France, Germany subsidized by the state. Europe's agriculture began to produce surplusses, which were bought up by the EEC and stored.
In 1967, a number of researchers, pointing at earth's limited resources, proclaimed the LIMITS TO GROWTH. After the location of their symposium, they were referred to as the CLUB OF ROME. One of these resources, OIL, would play a critical role in near future.


EXTERNAL
FILES
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Limits to Growth : A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind by Donella H. Meadows



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on July 7th 2001, last revised on November 11th 2004

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