{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"bd6aae02-10ad-4c93-8cfd-ed3ca405bfac","title":"Capitalism-and-Its-Critics-A-History-From-the","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9780374601096","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"bd6aae02-10ad-4c93-8cfd-ed3ca405bfac","id":"bd6aae02-10ad-4c93-8cfd-ed3ca405bfac","uuid":"bd6aae02-10ad-4c93-8cfd-ed3ca405bfac","title":"Capitalism-and-Its-Critics-A-History-From-the","normalized_title":"capitalismanditscriticsahistoryfromthe","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9780374601096","isbns":["9780374601096"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":681,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/bd6aae02-10ad-4c93-8cfd-ed3ca405bfac","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Capitalism-and-Its-Critics-A-History-From-the","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/bd6aae02-10ad-4c93-8cfd-ed3ca405bfac/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/bd6aae02-10ad-4c93-8cfd-ed3ca405bfac/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/bd6aae02-10ad-4c93-8cfd-ed3ca405bfac","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/bd6aae02-10ad-4c93-8cfd-ed3ca405bfac/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/bd6aae02-10ad-4c93-8cfd-ed3ca405bfac/search"},"page":{"printed_page":17,"pdf_page":314,"physical_index":314,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"39db9177463d1dc35f9bbc3641ef58836ce87405e1e65b36dd8d66b07521d144"},"chapter":"CAPITALISM AND ITS CRITICS","content":"Two Skeptics of Keynesianism: Paul Sweezy and Michał Kalecki\n\nIt’s easy to see why the three decades after the Second World War are often referred to as the Golden Age of industrial capitalism. In the United States between 1950 and 1973, inflation-adjusted GDP grew at an annual rate of 4 percent,1 and the jobless rate averaged about 4.7 percent.2 In western Europe, the economic performance was even better: inflation-adjusted GDP grew at an annual rate of 4.8 percent,3 and unemployment averaged just 2.6 percent.4 In Japan, where the Western allies created a democratic political system after occupying the country in 1945, economic growth was little short of miraculous: more than 9 percent a year between 1950 and 1973,5 a period in which the unemployment rate averaged just 1.6 percent.6 Throughout the advanced economies, productivity, wages, and life expectancy all rose steadily. In the United States, for example, inflationadjusted median family income—the income of the family right in the middle of the income distribution—doubled between 1947 and 1975.7\n\nThe official statistics don’t identify who the median American family was each year, but it was most likely headed by a non-college-educated factory worker or office worker. In the Western core of the global economy, at least, Keynesian managed capitalism was delivering steadily rising living standards to many workers, especially members of labor unions. In two landmark contracts that General Motors reached with the United Auto Workers in 1948 and 1950, the carmaker agreed to give its workers annual pay raises tied to the cost of living and productivity improvements, as well as providing them with pensions and health insurance. In return, the UAW agreed to respect GM’s authority to make managerial and investment decisions. These collective bargaining agreements, the latter of which Fortune magazine labeled “The Treaty of Detroit,” provided a model for other manufacturing firms. The postwar prosperity was far from shared equally. The United States was still riven by regional and racial divides. Discrimination against Blacks in employment, education, housing, and other aspects of daily life remained a blight on US society. But the overall trend was upward, and it was slanted toward the section of society that Americans refer to as the middle class and other countries call the propertyowning working class. As wages and living standards rose, income inequality declined. In 1950 the top 1 percent of American households received about 16 percent of pretax income; by 1973, that figure had fallen to about 11 percent.8\n\n17","previous_page":16,"next_page":18}