The growth of output last year is now estimated at 4.7 per cent. This is higher than the rate recorded in any postwar year except 1960, 1964 and 1973. We ask in this chapter whether the ‘Lawson boom’ is different in character from earlier periods of rapid expansion. As in most periods of rapid growth, unemployment is now falling fast, helped on this occasion by significant changes in the administration of benefits. The boom is also running true to form in that the balance of payments position is deteriorating. But this time the rate of inflation has not so far accelerated.