Balancing Business and the Regions: British Distribution of Industry Policy and the Board of Trade, 1945-51

Stephen Rosevear

Business History, 1998, vol. 40, issue 1, 77-99

Abstract: Britain was the first west European nation to adopt a nominally coercive regional policy. The article focuses on the wartime planning and post-war administration of this policy. It argues that the extent and radicalism of British distribution of industry measures from 1945 to 1951 has been exaggerated. The article outlines (i) how the Board of Trade came to dominate regional policy making, (ii) the implementation of policy based on case studies from the motor industry, (iii) the internal capabilities of the ministries for policy making, and (iv) a comparison between the 1945-47 and 1948-51 periods, rejecting 'policy on' versus 'policy off' comparisons. The article suggests that the government lacked the necessary economic intelligence and political drive to challenge industrialists successfully, and that, as a result, Labour struggled to impose its will on businesses.

Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1080/00076799800000121

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