The Postwar British Productivity Failure

Nicholas Crafts

No 269090, Economic Research Papers from University of Warwick - Department of Economics

Abstract: British productivity growth disappointed during the early postwar period. This reflected inadequate investment in equipment and skills but also entailed inefficient use of inputs. Weak management, dysfunctional industrial relations, and badly-designed economic policy were all implicated. The policy framework was partly the result of seeking low unemployment through wage restraint by appeasement of organized labour. A key aspect was weak competition. This exacerbated corporategovernance and industrial-relations problems in the British ‘variety of capitalism’ which sustained low effort bargains and managerial incompetence. Other varieties of capitalism were better placed to achieve fast growth but were infeasible for Britain given its history.

Keywords: Financial; Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21
Date: 2017-11-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-pke
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Working Paper: The Postwar British Productivity Failure (2017)
Working Paper: The Postwar British Productivity Failure (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uwarer:269090

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.269090

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