Governance, Industry and Labour Markets in Britain and France: The Modernizing State (Routledge Studies in the European Economy)

This book takes a comparative look at state intervention in labour markets in Britain and France during the 1950s and 1960s. Contributors include Jonathan Zeitlin, one of the world's leading scholars in political economy. BOOK COVER......Page 1 HALF-TITLE......Page 2 TITLE......Page 4 COPYRIGHT......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 6 FIGURES AND TABLES......Page 8 CONTRIBUTORS......Page 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 12 1 INTRODUCTION......Page 13 CONVENTIONS, GOVERNANCE AND THE POLITICS OF STATE INTERVENTION......Page 14 MODERNISATION AND THE SPHERE OF INDUSTRIAL POLITICS......Page 17 LABOUR MARKETS AND THE POLITICS OF FULL EMPLOYMENT......Page 22 The nature of employment in France and Britain......Page 23 France: wages, welfare and collective agreements......Page 24 Britain: modernisation and the voluntarist tradition......Page 27 CONCLUSION......Page 30 NOTES......Page 32 Part I MODERNISATION AND THE SPHERE OF INDUSTRIAL POLITICS......Page 34 2 COMPANIES UNDER PUBLIC CONTROL IN FRANCE, 1900–1950......Page 35 The defence industries: direct controls......Page 37 Railways and urban transport: compromise between public and private......Page 38 Energy......Page 39 The first world war: an interlude?......Page 40 The consequences of the war: increased control?......Page 42 Reconstruction and prosperity: state sponsored growth......Page 44 THE CRISIS OF THE 1930s: THE WAR AND INITIAL DESIGNS FOR A STATE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR......Page 45 The crisis, the Popular Front and the mixed economy.......Page 46 The SNCF, a nationalisation alien to Popular Front ideology?......Page 47 State surveillance of energy......Page 48 The second world war: the genesis of dirigisme......Page 49 FROM LIBERATION TO THE 1950s: A DOMINANT PUBLIC SECTOR?......Page 50 Nationalisation in three stages......Page 51 Macroeconomic coherence and adverse effects......Page 53 Three time-sequences and three interpretations......Page 56 NOTES......Page 58 Formation......Page 61 Implementation......Page 63 Success or failure?......Page 64 ENTERPRISE CALCULATION AND THE WIDER ECONOMIC CONTEXT......Page 67 THE EMPLOYERS AND THE PRODUCTIVITY DRIVE......Page 69 LABOUR AND THE EMPLOYERS’ OPPOSITION......Page 71 (1) BETRO......Page 74 (2) Joint production committees......Page 75 SOME CONCLUSIONS......Page 77 NOTES......Page 78 4 THE ‘REAL’ WORLD OF THE ENGINEERING AND ELECTRICAL INDUSTRIES IN THE PARISIAN BASIN......Page 80 THE PROBLEM......Page 81 Products......Page 82 Shattering the coherence of the real world of production......Page 83 YEARS OF TENSION 1930–9: ‘BEHIND’ THE PRODUCTS, A MACROECONOMY IN DISEQUILIBRIUM......Page 85 Time perspectives and expectations of firms......Page 86 Retrospective lessons from a macroeconomic analysis17......Page 90 Stimulating supply and product variety: an unsolved problem......Page 91 Three examples of co-ordination failure......Page 92 1944 AND AFTER: EXPECTATIONS OF LONG-TERM GROWTH......Page 94 CONCLUSION......Page 97 1 Estimates of a vectorial auto-regressive model based on monthly data from January 1928 to May 1939......Page 98 APPENDIX 2: THE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF BALANCE SHEETS AND REPORTS TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF FIFTY-THREE FIRMS IN ENGINEERING AND ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY IN THE SEINE, 1925–55......Page 99 1 The statistical analysis of balance sheets and profit and loss accounts......Page 100 The statistical analysis of textual data from the annual reports to the boards of directors (BD)......Page 101 Third class: Product development (13.7per cent of the BCU)......Page 102 Eighth class: Firm personnel (3.1 per cent of the BCU)......Page 103 NOTES......Page 104 INTRODUCTION......Page 108 Promoting productivity, emulating America......Page 109 BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME......Page 112 FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE......Page 116 OBSTACLES TO AMERICANISATION: SUPPLY AND DEMAND......Page 121 THE PERSISTENCE OF SELECTIVE ADAPTATION......Page 123 CONCLUSIONS......Page 125 NOTES......Page 126 6 TRAINING ENGINEERS IN LORRAINE, 1890–1956......Page 129 THE LEADING ROLE OF THE SCIENCE FACULTY OF NANCY, 1880–1914......Page 130 The Chemistry Institute and the Electrotechnical Institute......Page 131 THE PROBLEMS OF THE INTERWAR PERIOD......Page 136 Controlling numbers and quality......Page 138 On the eve of the slump......Page 139 The Langevin-Wallon Commission and after......Page 141 The Caen colloquium and state intervention......Page 143 Too many engineers?......Page 144 NOTES......Page 145 INTRODUCTION: THE ‘YOUTH PROBLEM’......Page 148 THE RESPONSE: POLICY INITIATIVES......Page 151 Technical training: the West Midlands experiment......Page 153 BRITISH RESPONSES IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE: THE ILO SURVEY......Page 156 CONCLUSIONS: THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND AFTER......Page 160 NOTES......Page 163 Part II REGULATING LABOUR MARKETS......Page 166 8 ARBITRATION IN CONTEXT......Page 167 CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION IN 1936: FROM PRACTICAL APPLICATION TO LEGAL RECOGNITION......Page 168 Beyond monetary considerations......Page 169 Applying the procedure: the ambiguity over ‘collective disputes......Page 170 Conciliation and arbitration across diverse systems of production......Page 171 The Paris metal industries agreement as a model for light engineering in the Arve Valley......Page 173 CONCLUSIONS......Page 178 NOTES......Page 179 9 COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS IN FRANCE IN THE 1930s......Page 181 ORIGINS: ARBITRATION, COLLECTIVE CONTRACTS AND JOINT COMMITTEES......Page 182 1936: THE GENDER OF AGREEMENTS. THE EXAMPLE OF THE SAINT-ETIENNE METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY......Page 185 A LARGE COMPANY: MULTIPLE WORLDS OF PRODUCTION. FROM AGREEMENT TO CONFLICT......Page 187 IMPLEMENTING THE AGREEMENTS (1937–1939): CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION......Page 190 CONCLUSION......Page 192 NOTES......Page 193 10 FRANCE AND UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FROM 1920 TO 1958......Page 195 Limiting the demand for work......Page 196 Increasing the work supply......Page 198 Organising the job market......Page 199 Private charity and public assistance......Page 200 Subsidised voluntary insurance......Page 203 Compulsory unemployment insurance......Page 204 CONCLUSIONS......Page 207 NOTES......Page 208 INTRODUCTION......Page 213 THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY LEGACY......Page 214 REDEFINING THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL LEGISLATION......Page 216 The control test......Page 218 THE IMPACT OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING......Page 222 CONCLUSION......Page 225 NOTES......Page 226 INTRODUCTION......Page 231 Industrial structure and organisation, 1930–60......Page 232 Work organisation and labour market structure......Page 233 Industrial relations and wage determination......Page 235 INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES, 1930–60......Page 238 SUMMARY......Page 242 CONCLUSIONS......Page 245 NOTES......Page 246 13 STATE REGULATION AND INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION......Page 249 TRADE BOARDS AND THE CLOTHING TRADES......Page 251 INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING......Page 252 WAR, INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION AND THE FAILURE OF PLANNING......Page 259 CONCLUSIONS......Page 262 NOTES......Page 263 INTRODUCTION......Page 266 THE RECONSTRUCTION ECONOMY AND ITS PROBLEMS......Page 268 CIVIL SERVICE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT......Page 270 THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE......Page 274 COAL INDUSTRY AND NATIONALISATION......Page 277 CONCLUSIONS......Page 278 NOTES......Page 281 INDEX......Page 284

This volume brings together well-known scholars from a wide range of disciplines to provide a superb analytical and historical overview of how state policy has affected established economic and labour market systems in France and Britain.
The contributors to this book explore some crucial questions:

• how 'dirigiste' was the French state in reality

• why was state intervention more acceptable in France than in Britain

• how do the differences in state intervention help to explain the respective economic performances of the two countries since the second world war?
The book draws on hitherto unpublished primary research by scholars in economic and social history, industrial relations, economics, law, political science, sociology and social policy. As such, it is a timely and welcome intervention into debates concerning the politics of modern labour markets specifically and the role of the state in economic modernization more widely. It will have strong appeal to researchers and students in several discplines.