Stagnation and Steel

Abstract

The current economic upswing, which got under way in March, 1961, is now just over a year old. On the whole it has been a sluggish affair, very much in the pattern of the preceding upswing (April '58 to May '60) which was the shortest and weakest of the postwar period. Comparing the first quarter of 1961 with the last quarter (the latest quarterly data available at the time of writing), we find that Gross National Product (GNP total demand for goods and services) rose by $41.4 billion or 8.3 percent during the course of the year.

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