- At the end of the Second World War, Europe was at the end of its rope:the destruction was enormous, the infrastructures were in ruins, the lines of communication were destroyed.
- Despite the peace, people still live in conditions as difficult as during the war, food restrictions are still present, for example:in France, the bread menu, abolished in November 1945, reappears in December of the same year until 1949.
1945 - 1973
Characters
Jean Fourastié
Procedure
However, post-war reconstruction will be faster than that of the Great War. It is supported in particular by American aid from the Marshall Plan (more than 13 billion dollars) released to help the old continent. The baby boom following the world war is also a notable change:between 1951 and 1975, the population of Western Europe increased by 56 million inhabitants.
The pace of economic growth is unprecedented in history:France experienced a growth rate close to 5% per year between 1950 and 1973, the strongest in Europe. We owe the expression of the “Trente Glorieuses”, a period of strong development, to the French economist Jean Fourastié. Germany and Italy (we are talking about an Italian economic miracle) are also recovering extremely quickly from the war, full employment (maintaining unemployment at an incompressible level) reigns in these countries. However, Great Britain is stagnating economically:its imports are falling.
This rapid growth led to an improvement in the social conditions of the populations, coupled with a redistribution of income and an improvement in social legislation (minimum wage in 1950, third week of paid vacation in 1956 in France). The rise in the generalized standard of living brought Western Europe into the era of mass consumption:households equipped themselves with televisions and automobiles. Expenditure on leisure is increasing significantly.
Growth is based on industrial activities and the building sector. Similarly, the agricultural revolution took place:mechanization and the massive use of fertilizers led to an increase in productivity. The establishment of the welfare state (concerned about the well-being of citizens) and public policies (plans, nationalizations, public investments) make it possible to support growth and the redistribution of wealth.
Consequences
- The French population is changing:the middle class is growing, and we are witnessing the tertiarization of the economy.
- Current research points to the harmful ecological and human consequences of such rapid development:the depletion of natural resources, the massive release of CO2, contaminated asbestos workers, nuclear tests, the massive use of immigrant labor also marked this period.
- During the 1960s, the industrialized countries experienced the new phenomenon of "stagflation" (a halt in growth and investment coupled with high inflation) and the oil shock of 1973 marked the end of the post-war boom period.