We evaluate explanations for why Germany grew so quickly in the 1950s. The recent literature has emphasized convergence, structural change and institutional shake-up while minimizing the importance of the postwar shock. We show that this shock and its consequences were more important than...

Historical experience suggests that network infrastructure can be reoriented and reconstructed relatively quickly in postwar Ukraine, with the central government playing a coordinating role. Repair of the housing stock may take longer, and chronic housing shortages leading to inadequate labor...

This paper assesses the legacy of the Marshall Plan on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of General George Marshall's historic commencement address at Harvard University. I suggest that the circumstances today are very different from those which motivated Marshall's initiative in 1947