Abstract
During the inter-war period, the industrially advanced and the agricultural regions of Europe witnessed divergent patterns of industrial growth. Whereas the industrialization of the wealthy countries proved a slow process, compared with the latter half of the 19th century, the peripheral countries experienced a more rapid development of their industrial sector between 1910 and 1938 than during the preceding period. Furthermore, during the interwar period, they enjoyed-on average-a superior growth rate than that of industrialized countries. However, inequalities did not for that tend to diminish. Indeed, this contribution, based on a study of three sectors (textiles, steel and automobile) shows that the declining industrial development of the core countries served to obscure certain major structural changes for example, consumer goods industries witnessed a decline in favour of new sectors-such as machinery or chemical industries. At the same time, the peripheral countries were hardly affected by this re-structuration process. On the contrary, the majority experienced an industrial development in the sphere of consumer goods-especially in textiles. And insofar as the booming textile industry failed to give a boost to other economie sectors, the European periphery was faced with an industrial growth with no prospects of development.
Published Version
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