Phases of Economic Growth, 18501973 Kondratieff Waves and Kuznets Swings [Paperback]

Using data from Britain, France, Germany, the United States, and the world economy between 1850 and 1973, this book presents a clear and systematic examination of the evidence for long-term patterns of economic growth. The author refutes the existence of long (Kondratieff) waves in the course of economic development, and instead presents persuasive evidence for a growth pattern characterized by episodic long swing fluctuations of twenty to thirty years, documenting and explaining these phases in a historical perspective.List of figures; List of tables; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Perspectives on long-term economic growth variations; 2. Statistical methodology; 3. Production trends in the world economy; 4. Price trends; 5. Innovation clusters and Kondratieff waves; 6. The national aspects of Kuznets swings, 18501913; 7. The international aspects of Kuznets swings, 18501913; 8. A long-term perspective of interwar economic growth; 9. Some conclusions on the postwar boom, 19501973; 10. Conclusions; Notes; Bibliography; Index. Solomou's achievement in this terse and clear book...is remarkable. His handling of the main statistical series on growth is masterly...his knowledge of the secondary sources is clearly encyclopaedic...Anyone interested in the recent economic history of the major Western economies, or the world economy, should read and reread Solomou... The Economic Journal Overall, Solomou's arguments are plausible and his reasoning cogent. He has amassed a great amount of information to support his conclusions. His prose style is clear and crisp... The Times Higher Education Supplement