The evolution of national income in the world economy in the second half of the 20th century
The pace and size of income in the .golden period of the Western economy The most illustrative interpretation of the development of the world economy in the second half of the 1950s and the 1960s, referred to as the .golden period, was the dynamics of national income and its level in individual countries. The rate of GDP was certainly influenced by the increasing share of investment and government spending. In the countries with the longest capitalist tenure, the share of investment in the GDP structure ranged from 18 to 25% in the late 1960s, and even over 30% in Japan. In contrast, Western European countries had the highest share of government spending – close to 40% of GDP, much less the United States – over 30% of GDP and Japan – just 20% of GDP [Crafts, Woodward, Duckham, 1991, p. 10]. World GDP in 1956 was around 7.2 trillion dollars. (at 1990 purchasing power) and had risen to 13.8 trillion by 1970 [Maddison, 2002, p. 329].