The post–World War II economic expansion, also known as the golden age of capitalism and the postwar economic boom or simply the long boom, was a broad period of worldwide economic expansion beginning after World War II and ending with the 1973–75 recession. The United States, Soviet Union, Western European and East Asian countries in particular experienced unusually high and sustained growth, together with full employment. Contrary to early predictions, this high growth also included many countries that had been devastated by the war, such as Japan (Japanese economic miracle), West Germany and Austria (Wirtschaftswunder), South Korea (Miracle on the Han River), France (Trente Glorieuses), Italy (Italian economic miracle) and Greece (Greek economic miracle).
Terminology
In academic literature, the period is frequently referred to as the post–World War II economic boom, although this term can refer to much shorter booms in particular markets. It is also known as the long boom, but this term is generic and can refer to other periods. The golden age of capitalism is a common name for this period in both academic and economics books.
The term is also used in other contexts. In older sources and occasionally in contemporary ones, the golden age of capitalism can refer to the period of the Second Industrial Revolution from approximately 1870 to 1914 which also saw rapid economic expansion. Yet another name for the quarter century following the end of World War II is the Age of Marx, although the Soviet Union's economic statistics were not reliable during this period.