The Multiplant Origins of the National Market

Robert Gulotty

Journal of Historical Political Economy, 2024, vol. 3, issue 4, 577-606

Abstract: The interwar period initiated a new era of strategic industrial planning in the United States. This period also witnessed the emergence of multiplant firms, which, akin to contemporary dynamics of globalization, spanned economically diverse regions. Using archives, legislation, and production data, I show how horizontal integration by national flour mills led otherwise laissez-faire executives to favor government intervention and the design of the Agriculture Adjustment Act. In particular, these firms provided political support for the development of the nation's first systematic export subsidy programs, the American Wheat Loans and the North Pacific Emergency Export Association. Rather than undermine barriers to trade, integrated national firms helped give otherwise isolated regional interests a voice in national policymaking.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/115.00000063 (application/xml)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:now:jnlhpe:115.00000063

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Historical Political Economy from now publishers
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Lucy Wiseman ().