ECONOMICS: World Surge

In spite of all the tariffs, quotas, embargoes and regulatory roadblocks that man's ingeniously protective nationalism could strew in its path, world trade rose to record heights last year. When final figures are in, experts expect that the grand total of world trade in 1956 may have topped $100 billion.

World industrial production, according to the U.N., increased at a slower rate than the year before, but the output was 5% greater than in 1955. The outlook, at least among the free nations of Western Europe, is that the mighty surge started by U.S. Marshall Plan aid after World War...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!