That's a good question, and I haven't really read enough history/economics regarding that time period to piece together an intelligent answer with the nuances n

That's a good question, and I haven't really read enough history/economics regarding that time period to piece together an intelligent answer with the nuances needed. Among other things, I think it's too soon to really look back and see how the threads connected and disconnected with any dispassionate analysis. Once the signal figures of the era die off with their passions, we can start taking breaths that aren't colored by their factions. That said: one factor is that computers started really becoming available to businesses, so you really had an automation boom. one factor is the cold war ended, which changed... a lot of things, including capital flows. That capital shuffling may have helped prosperity. one factor is the boomers hit their financially most productive years.