workers moved from lower-paid sectors, such as recovering from the coronavirus crisis. Not the same agriculture, into more productive and higher- policies, of course—the conditions are too different. paid ones. Trade flows are much bigger, international travel is routine, information is transferred seamlessly, and the use of digital tools is only going to get much Drawing the right conclusions: The greater. But there are broad themes that we believe limits of the postwar analogy are pertinent. It is not often that nations learn from the past, even In the postwar era, international institutions 2 rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it. (GATT, Bretton Woods, Marshall Plan ), domestic —Henry Kissinger, A World Restored government policies (education, training, infrastructure, currency reform), and private-sector There was no postwar miracle; the actions that actions (innovation, technology partnerships, forged recovery were all human made. Good structural change) worked together to create the policies, political commitment, and hard work made conditions for broad-based growth (Exhibits 3, 4, 5). it happen. The same will have to be the case in Web <2020> Exhibit 3 Exhibit <4> of <6> In the United States, employment remained robust after 1945, while national In the United States, employment remained robust after 1945, while national debt and inequality declined. debt and inequality declined. Unemployment rate, National debt, of ­€‚ Inequality, share of wealth held by top 1 percent  1     1 1      194 19 19 19 194 19 19 19 194 19 19 19 Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 2 The Bretton Woods Agreement, negotiated in 1944 by delegates from 44 countries at a UN conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, stated that gold was the basis for the US dollar, and other currencies would be pegged to the US dollar’s value. The system came to an end in the early 1970s when President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would no longer exchange gold for US currency. The Marshall Plan, formally approved in 1948, was a US initiative that provided foreign aid to Western Europe. 118 What now? Ten actions to emerge stronger in the next normal September 2020