An Extraordinary Time: The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy Paperback – 4 May 2017

Interesting synopsis of a period that had much economic change. Some of the issues of productivity challenges resonate with current economic challenges.

Levinson has written some excellent histories, usually in the format of using one particular major change (the rise of containerized shipping in "The Box", the A&P store chain in "The Great A&P") as a way of discussing how it changed the economic landscape of the country - and in the process, providing an excellent economic history for lay readers on particular periods of time. "An Extraordinary Time" takes a broader approach (although it is ostensibly focused on productivity), but it continues in the vein of providing an excellent, supremely readable account of the economic transformation that countries across the world went through with the end of the Postwar Era (1945-1970s) and the rise of a new one.He starts off by setting the framework in the 1970s, as economic growth reached its peak in the rich countries as they (unknowingly at the time) neared the pinnacle of their economic growth and frequently productivity growth (although the latter had already started to slow in several countries). Levinson then goes into great and fascinating detail about various countries' responses to this, from the rise of Thatcher in Great Britain to the shift towards new industries in Japan as the old "smokestack" export industries declined. Throughout it all, he poses a question - "Why did economic growth and productivity drastically slow down worldwide after the early 1970s?" There are no easy answers, and Levinson goes into great detail examining each potential reason why it might have occurred.All of the above might make this book seem more dry than it is. It is not a dry book at all - as mentioned above, one of Levinson's great strengths is that he can make this all incredibly interesting and very readable. I strongly recommend this to anyone who might be curious about what has happened in the world's economy since the 1970s.

Levinson explains how the world economies in the "Gold Age," from the World War II to the Oil Shock, had well performed with high economic growth rate, low inflation rate and low unemployment rate. Such a good performance of the world economies significantly contributed for the improvement of human well-being in major advanced countries on the one hand, while the politicians, policy makers as well as ordinary nationals in these advanced countries, all became to take for granted that economy could be controllable so as to grow at high rate with continuous improvement of human well-being on the other hand.After the world faced the Oil Shock in 1973, all the underlining economic conditions changed drastically, i.e., turned into being troubled with low economic growth rate, high inflation rate and high unemployment rate. In spite of efforts to challenge these economic bad conditions, such as the Thatcherism and the Reaganomics which promoted deregulation and privatization, the economies of major advanced countries have remained low growth rate and high unemployment rate, and widened income gap between rich and poor as a result of the liberalization of economies.After reviewed postwar world economic history, Levinson concluded as below;“The Golden Age was an extraordinary time, and the generation that lived through it enjoyed extraordinary opportunity. But as economist John Fernald observed after delving deeply into American productivity data, “It is the exceptional growth that appears unusual.” The same applies to every other country in the world. Economic miracles do happen, but in most times and most places, economics grow slowly, bringing a gradual improvement in living standards punctuated by sudden bursts of euphoria and by recessions that throw unneeded workers on the street. Neither market-oriented economic policies, such as those championed by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, nor statist reforms, such as those initially undertaken by François Mitterrand, have proven able to alter that reality. In Japan and Korea, massive state-guided investment booms, once the objects of breathless admiration around the world, brought explosive economic growth followed by rapid improvements in living standards---again, for a while. But those economies, too, eventually fell from orbit, their political leaders no longer able to deliver miracles.”Levinson successfully described the dynamics of the world economies, and the "Golden Age" was mere extraordinary period which derived from such historical conditions, (a) the restoration of the advanced countries from ruins after the World War II, (b) the rise of communism that resulted in Cold War, and (c) the implementation of the Marshall Plan to support economic restoration of the advanced countries as an urgent response of US against the rise of communism.I highly recommend this book if you are interested in postwar world economic history, and want to understand why the advanced countries currently face difficulties in their economies.

If you want know why we are in an economic mess and why the average person is no better off than 40 years ago - start here. if you want to know aboutwhy the Oil Crisis of 1973 was basically the end of the economic miracle of the post-war years - read this book.

Very readable writing style and interesting topic. The premise of the book is the decline of economic growth world wide since 1973 at least compared to the 25 years before that. In my opinion the arguement the author is making is logical and comprehensive but not 100% compelling. Still it was well worth reading.