However, a closer examination of the whole period suggests that there were two quite distinct sub-periods. The first, from 1945 to 1965 or thereabouts, was the true Golden Age in that sustainable growth with low inflation was achieved against a background of macroeconomic policies that did not try to be too ambitious in the short run.
The second period, from 1965 to 1973, looked promising for a time, but was ultimately a period of policy failure. Macroeconomic policy tried to achieve too much and forgot about the need for sustainability. It ended up with the world economy in an inflationary boom, which set the scene for oil prices to rise sharply, as had all other commodity prices during the boom.