BOOKS
113
THE ECONOMY AND THE ECONOMIST
THE TWILIGHT OF CAPITALISM. By Michael Harrington.
Simon
&
Schuster. $10.95.
ECONOMISTS AT BAY. By Robert Lekachman.
McGraw-HilI. $8.95.
THE UNSEEN REVOLUTION. By Peter Drucker.
Harper
&
Row. $8.95.
T he economi c hi gh hope of the pos twar peri od and espe–
ciall y, in the United Sta tes, of the ea rl y 1960's has turned to gloom .
After th e stagn ati on of the 1930's, the peri od 1950- 1966 was a period
whi ch combin ed reason abl y hi gh levels of emp loyment with steady
growth . T he countri es of Wes tern Europe indeed came to th is good
state ea rli er and mo re tho rough ly than the United Sta tes, and J apan
did stil l better. Yet two yea rs ago 10 percent of the
l
nited Sta tes labo r
force was un emp loyed, contributing neither to its own sup po rt no r to
the goods and services des ired and even needed by th e popul a ti on at
large. O ur to ta l output of goods and services ceased to grow a t a ll ; and
shortages of energy, actua l and fea red, changed expectati ons (or the
future.
Nor was the United Sta tes a lone, as indeed it could no t be in a
hi ghl y int erdep endent wo rl d. Grow th ground to a ha lt everywhere in
the capita list world , even , tho ugh bri efl y, in ebul lient J apan . Unem–
ploymem , much lower in Europe th an in the United States, rose from a
low level of I percent to a current hi gh o( 6 percent in the Un ited
Kingdom .
Fin all y, infl a ti on , traditi ona ll y associated onl y with the poor ly
managed economi es of La tin America o r with wa r o r immedi a te
postwar peri ods, appea red in th e most sophi sti ca ted and prudentl y
managed economi es, reachi ng peak annua l rates of 14 percent in the
United Sta tes a nd no less than 36 percent among the sta id Bri tish .
o wonder there is a rev iva l of beli ef tha t capita lism h as no t long
to li ve. No t tha t such predicti ons have ever been absent , certa in ly no t
since th e
Commun ist Manifesto.
T he period 1950- 1965, whi ch may
now appear as a go lden age, di d no t appear so happy a t the time.
Advanced thinkers a lt ern a ted among exi stenti a l pess im ism , condemna–
ti on of excessive conformi sm and the powers of o rgani za ti on over the
