Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: The Paradox of American Capitalism -- The Postwar Boom -- The issue of investment -- Planning a new world order -- Reconversion -- Postwar reconstruction abroad -- Contours of prosperity -- The economics of reform -- Conservative economics -- The Go-Go Economy -- The New Economics -- The New Economics in practice -- The go-go stock market -- The service economy -- The New Economics in trouble -- The monetarist challenge -- Nixon's economy -- The Great Stagflation -- A great crash -- A new international regime? -- The new regulation -- The Carter administration -- Deregulation -- The Reagan Revolution -- Beneath the surface -- Adjusting to New Realities -- The dual economy -- Laissez faire? -- The twin deficits -- Reorganization -- Finance -- Third world debt and the issue of development -- The trials of George Bush -- The "New Economy" -- Reform and deficits -- The New Economy -- Globalization -- Issues and campaigns -- The Ways of Wealth.

The record of the American economy since 1945 offers an embarrassment of riches for the historian, and Wyatt Wells has brought them together in a compact and incisive history. His theme is how greatly many economic circumstances changed--and how many other features remained essentially the same. He shows how throughout the period the United States enjoyed not only the world's largest economy but by most measures its most diverse and sophisticated. The second half of the twentieth century witnessed extraordinary change: the development of entirely new industries, such as television and computers; the decline of established industries, such as steel and textiles; the impact of international trade and competition on growing numbers of Americans. As the boom of the 1950s and 1960s gave way to "stagflation" in the 1970s, the 1980s became a time of extensive reorganization, which in turn laid the foundation for another boom in the 1990s. Still, as Mr. Wells notes, industry remained in private hands; political debate consistently returned to the same issues involving the proper role of government in the economy; and the country remained committed to an open international economic system. "American Capitalismexamines the development of economic policy (government spending, taxes, regulation, and monetary policy), economic structure (companies, markets, technology, and labor), and ideas about both, explaining the complex interaction of these factors over the past half-century. The book offers an essential short course on American economic development over these years.