Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I European trade policy, 1815–1914
- CHAPTER II Commercial policy between the wars
- CHAPTER III International financial policy and the gold standard, 1870–1914
- CHAPTER IV The gold standard and national financial policies, 1919–39
- CHAPTER V Taxation and public finance: Britain, France, and Germany
- CHAPTER VI State policy towards labour and labour organizations, 1830–1939: Anglo-American union movements
- CHAPTER VII Labour and the state on the continent, 1800–1939
- CHAPTER VIII British public policy, 1776–1939
- CHAPTER IX American economic policy, 1865–1939
- CHAPTER X Economic and social policy in France
- CHAPTER XI German economic and social policy, 1815–1939
- CHAPTER XII Economic policy and economic development in Austria–Hungary, 1867–1913
- CHAPTER XIII East-central and south-east Europe, 1919–39
- CHAPTER XIV Economic and social policy in the USSR, 1917–41
- CHAPTER XV Economic and social policy in Sweden, 1850–1939
- CHAPTER XVI Aspects of economic and social policy in Japan, 1868–1945
- Bibliographies
- References
CHAPTER XIII - East-central and south-east Europe, 1919–39
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I European trade policy, 1815–1914
- CHAPTER II Commercial policy between the wars
- CHAPTER III International financial policy and the gold standard, 1870–1914
- CHAPTER IV The gold standard and national financial policies, 1919–39
- CHAPTER V Taxation and public finance: Britain, France, and Germany
- CHAPTER VI State policy towards labour and labour organizations, 1830–1939: Anglo-American union movements
- CHAPTER VII Labour and the state on the continent, 1800–1939
- CHAPTER VIII British public policy, 1776–1939
- CHAPTER IX American economic policy, 1865–1939
- CHAPTER X Economic and social policy in France
- CHAPTER XI German economic and social policy, 1815–1939
- CHAPTER XII Economic policy and economic development in Austria–Hungary, 1867–1913
- CHAPTER XIII East-central and south-east Europe, 1919–39
- CHAPTER XIV Economic and social policy in the USSR, 1917–41
- CHAPTER XV Economic and social policy in Sweden, 1850–1939
- CHAPTER XVI Aspects of economic and social policy in Japan, 1868–1945
- Bibliographies
- References
Summary
Introduction
This chapter is concerned with the economic history of the countries east of the Elbe and along the Danube (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria) with special consideration of the social and economic policies of their states. Their different levels of industrialization show a marked west to east-south-east gradient. Only Czechoslovakia's development did not conform to that of the other relatively economically backward Central and south-east European countries but progressed on a pattern similar to Western European economies. Under the Habsburg monarchy the western regions of Czechoslovakia – Bohemia and Moravia – had already undergone an industrial revolution essentially of the nineteenth-century type, starting with the textile industry, then penetrating to the agricultural industries (sugar, brewing, distilling), to heavy industry (iron and steel, coal), and to engineering (agricultural and textile machinery). In all its phases the industrialization of the Czech Lands was supported by a continuous inflow of labour and by a fairly substantial level of domestic capital accumulation derived mainly from a relatively advanced agriculture which had developed simultaneously. Such a gradual rise of industrial development permeating the whole economy was largely bypassed in the other countries as they were faced with the need to industrialize in twentieth-century conditions alongside and in unequal competition with high-powered industrial nations.
The main obstacle to modern economic development remained the overwhelming weight of agriculture in the economies of that region, and any assessment of economic growth can only be made by taking into account the basic relationship between agriculture and industry.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989
References
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