Post-War Economic Tendencies in the United States

Abstract

If the period of United States business-cycle history which lies between the summer of 1945 and the summer of 1952 were sufficiently far removed to be of interest merely in its broad outline, not in its details, it might be possible to characterize the period by a few statements such as the following: (1) Taken as a whole, the period was one of readjustment from hot war to a condition of cold war (plus local armed conflicts), rather than from war to peace in any usual sense. This process took a detour; it first moved from war toward peace and from there to cold war. The detour was short, that is to say, the process moved very rapidly. By the end of the period it had not come to an end.