British Economy 1940-1964 Flashcards
which two staple industries indicate technological failure?
cotton and shipbuilding
why was the decline in ship building suprising?
rearmament before, and during the war had restored british ship building to profitability, creating an unprecedented demand in british shops in the extended post war boom, britan had the largest shipbuilding industry until 1955 BUT because of the complacency and greed of shipbuilding owners, they largely wasted an opportunity of modernisation and growth and instead it saw a period of terminal decline by 1964
sunderland shipbuilding firms
only two firms in sunderland sucessfully deveoped a niche in building small, spoecialised ships BUT the industry was unable to meet the demand of bigger container or oil vessels, unwilling to invest in new technologies. they failed to conduct effective market research, failed to respond to complaints about delays and refused to take decisive action through industry associatiins or in response to govt inquires into the industry.
how much of britans share of the world ship building market decrease by? by how much did german and japanese competitors increase?
in 1948-50, ship builders had 35% of the global market BUT this dropped to 7% in 1956-60.
by contrast, japan and germany grew from 2% and 0 to 32% and 21%.
what was british capital investment in ship building?
british capital investment as a proportion of output stood at 4% for the 1950s, compared to vehicles which was at 12%, this inducates that firms were withdrawling capital from an industry in terminal decline
unemployment in ship building
unemployment rates in ship building was almost double the national average. both con and lab govts failed to effectively intervene.
why did market demand for cotton collapse during the IWYs
- beachhead effect- japanese and american cotton made inroads into the indian market that were permanent and expanding
- the industry suffered over-capacity (supply exceeding demand) and outdated technology relative to foreign competition
- the industry had thousands of owners running far too many firms for the demand available and the cartelisation policies of the 1930s failed to restructure and industry
american cotton production in comparison to british cotton production
in 1913, 87% of american spindles were ring frames wheras onlu 19% of british spindles were ring frames
1955: all us firms used automatic looms whilst only 12% of british firms used them
british cotton production relied on machinery that was obsolete by world standards, the uk share of the global market sank to 12%
what was Research and development focused on in the 1950s?
over 60% of R&D was for the purpose of defence and this caused technological expertise to be focused on military, not commercial value. this was just as japan and germany were demilitarising
british spending on defence as a proportion of total R&D was the highest in the world after the usa.
R&D in aircraft
until the 1970s, britan was the largest producer of aircrafts after the ussr and us BUT this was dominated by military needs. sucessful british engineering companies, ferrari, rolls royce
Name the act that gave the government extraordinary powers in WW2.
emergency powers (defence) act 1939
What happened to GB’s gold & reserves in WW2?
Sold/liquidated to finance war effort
what hell did the usa provide gn in ww2
Lend – Lease, equal to a year’s pre-war national income.
summarise the position of gbs exports and imports in ww2
Exports declined by 70% in volume, 50% in value; imports fell by 25% but rose 33%
in volume (more expensive than previously)
how did farming benefit from the war?
Self-sufficiency required so govt. subsidies, planning and price incentives; acreage
for arable farming increased by 50%; subsidiarisation continued after WW2.
which two industries performed badly jn ww2
steel and coal
coal output for 1939 and 1945
231m to 189m tons
why did the coal industry perform badly in ww2
Coal production down; lost 200,000 miners to armed forces; declining productivity
and poor industrial relations; miners and owners waiting for nationalisation after
1944.
when was the pound devalued and to what exchange rate
1949 by 30%. from $4 to $2
marshall plan, how much did gb receive?
15bn in aid from the us to europe
economic purpose of austerity during the war
To drive down consumption, to eliminate the risk of inflation and, after 1945, to
preserve dollars and focus the economy on exports to gain dollars.
industries nationalised by labour
iron and steel
domestic transport
fuel and power industries
how much compensation did the coal mine owners receive?
national coal board received 81m (3.5bn today)
4 reasons given by lab for nationalisation
it would protect industry from unplanned capitalist trade cycle
economic redistribution
industrial democracy
modernisation and efficiency
Were the 4 reasons actually achieved? What were the weaknesses of the coal and rail nationalisations?
Partial redistribution of assets to state but no industrial democracy with
corporations; confused over prices, delusions over vague and fragmented planning;
modernisation late due to lack of precise investment and at the cost of jobs. Rail
modernisation led to £100m+ in losses, closure of 3000 miles of track by Beeching;
coal faced oil competition, decades of underinvestment and modernisation in 1960s
led to 200,000 job losses.
