Using data from Britain, France, Germany, the United States, and the world economy between 1850 and 1973, this book presents a clear and systematic examination of the evidence for long-term patterns of economic growth. The author refutes the existence of long (Kondratieff) waves in the course of economic development, and instead presents persuasive evidence for a growth pattern characterized by episodic long swing fluctuations of twenty to thirty years, documenting and explaining these phases in a historical perspective.