The Postwar British Productivity Failure

CAGE Online Working Paper Series from Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE)

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: competition; productivity; relative economic decline; varieties of capitalism JEL Classification: N14; O62; P170 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-his and nep-pke
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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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:cge:wacage:350

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