Imagining Economic Growth in Post-War Britain.

This article contends that common representations of the history of the British economy and economic policy in the 'Golden Age' period (circa 1950-73) as a story of 'failure' rely overwhelmingly on one measure, that of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Drawing on the foundational criticisms of this metric made by Simon Kuznets, it is argued that, for this period of British economic history, shortfalls in measured GDP growth in comparison with other rich countries are a very poor measure of changes in economic well-being in the UK. If we follow this argument and discard the belief that one metric can summarize trends in such well-being, the notion of 'failure' in this period should be set aside in favour of a more nuanced, multidimensional assessment.

The Strange Survival of 'Embedded Liberalism': National Economic Management and Globalization in Britain from 1944.

This article examines the fate of national economic management in Britain in the face of the growing economic international interdependence, which initially grew in the context of the 'Bretton Woods institutions', and continued apace up until the crisis of 2007-8. It frames the argument with the concept of 'Embedded Liberalism', which allows to examine in detail the evolution of key elements of the Bretton Woods settlement, their subsequent development, and how far these shifts led to a 'race to the bottom' in national policies. On the basis of arguments about the continuing viability of national economic management, it questions how far we should accept a story of 'the short life of social democracy' as a wholly accurate account of Britain since the 1970s.

Deindustrialization, the Linwood Car Plant and Scotland's Political Divergence from England in the 1960s and 1970s.

Scotland's political divergence from England is a key theme in late twentieth century British history. Typically seen in terms of the post-1979 Thatcher effect, this in fact developed over a longer timeframe, rooted in industrial changes revealed by analysis of the Linwood car plant in Renfrewshire. Conservatism and Unionism was an eminent political force in Scotland in the 1940s and 1950s.

Women and work after the Second World War: a case study of the jute industry, circa 1945-1954.

This article examines the attempts by the Dundee jute industry to recruit women workers in the years circa 1945-1954. It locates its discussion of these attempts in the literature on the impact of the Second World War on the participation of women in the British labour market more generally, and the forces determining that participation. It stresses the peculiarities of jute as a traditional major employer of women operating in very specific market conditions, but suggests that this case study throws light on the broader argument about the impact of war and early post-war conditions on women's participation in paid work.