Macro-economic performance in the 1950s and 1960s It is not necessary to spend much time demonstrating how successful this period was in terms of macro-economic performance because no-one disputes it. Table 1 shows that the real growth rate for the world economy was more than twice as high in the 1950-1973 period than in the previous 80 years.
In Australia there was also a major improvement, although less than a doubling. Inflation, which had been negligible on average until the Second World War, rose to about 4 per cent in the 1950-1973 period, with the average being pushed up by the Korean War period and the early 1970s.