The Marshall Plan: A Reality Check

This paper surveys the literature on the Marshall Plan which was designed to help the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. A basic description of how the Marshall Plan was implemented is provided but the focal point is a consideration of the impact of American aid on European growth. It is concluded that the direct effects were positive but modest. The indirect effects working through induced policy changes may have been larger. If so, the Marshall Plan may be thought of as a successful structural adjustment program of the kind advocated by believers in the Washington Consensus.Aid; Economic Growth; Marshall Plan; Structural Adjustment Program

The Marshall Plan: History's Most Successful Structural Adjustment Program

The post-World War II reconstruction of Western Europe was one of the greatest economic policy and foreign policy successes of this century. "Folk wisdom" assigns a major role in successful reconstruction to the Marshall Plan: the program that transferred some $13 billion to Europe in the years 1948-51. We examine the economic effects of the Marshall Plan, and find that it was not large enough to have significantly accelerated recovery by financing investment, aiding the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure, or easing commodity bottlenecks. We argue, however, that the Marshall Plan did play a major role in setting the stage for post-World War II Western Europe's rapid growth. The conditions attached to Marshall Plan aid pushed European political economy in a direction that left its post World War II "mixed economies" with more "market" and less "controls" in the mix.

The Marshall Plan speech at 70 – and the lessons it can provide for today’s challenges

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan speech given by US Secretary of State George Marshall on 5 June 1947. The speech outlined the principles of the Marshall Plan, under which the United States provided financial support to help rebuild Western Europe after the Second World War. Effie G. H. Pedaliu writes that while the conditions present in post-war Europe were unique, the Marshall Plan can provide lessons for many of the challenges currently facing the world

The Southern Debate over the Passage of the Marshall Plan in Congress, 1947-1948

On June 5, 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall spoke at Harvard University and unveiled his plan for a comprehensive recovery program for Europe after the destruction of World War II. The European Recovery Program, also known as the Marshall Plan , was designed to alleviate the economic and political crisis taking place in Europe. It was alos marketed as a weapon in the fight against the spread of communism. Because the Marshall Plan was received at home with mixed reviews, the job of the State Department was to sell the Marshall Plan, not only to Congress, but to the American people across the country. The focus of this paper is the regional debate in the South as to whether or not the Marshall Plan should be enacted

The Southern Debate over the Passage of the Marshall Plan in Congress, 1947-1948

On June 5, 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall spoke at Harvard University and unveiled his plan for a comprehensive recovery program for Europe after the destruction of World War II. The European Recovery Program, also known as the Marshall Plan , was designed to alleviate the economic and political crisis taking place in Europe. It was alos marketed as a weapon in the fight against the spread of communism. Because the Marshall Plan was received at home with mixed reviews, the job of the State Department was to sell the Marshall Plan, not only to Congress, but to the American people across the country. The focus of this paper is the regional debate in the South as to whether or not the Marshall Plan should be enacted

The Marshall Plan: Searching for Creative Peace, Then and Now

The article reviews the elements of the Marshall Plan after World War II, and relates its positive features to economic challenges of the end of the 20th century.Marshall Plan; economic development; Europe; transition countries; foreign policy; institution building; infrastructure

A Quantitative Exploration of the Golden Age of European Growth

Income per capita in some Western European countries more than tripled in the two and a half decades that followed World War II. The literature has identified several factors behind this outstanding growth episode, specifically; structural change associated with large migrations from agriculture to nonagricultural sectors, the Marshall Plan combined with the public provision of infrastructure, the surge of intra-European trade, and the reconstruction process that followed the devastation of the war. This paper is an attempt to formalize and quantify the direct contribution of each one of these factors to growth during the European Golden Age. Our results highlight the importance of reconstruction growth and structural change, and point to the limited role of the Marshall Plan, and the late contribution of intra-European trade.Economic Growth, European Economic History 1913-, Computable General Equilibrium Models.