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Companies, corporations and co-operation

Cars on the production line at the Talbot factory in London in the 1930s.
Cars on the production line at the Talbot factory in London in the 1930s.
©TopFoto

In the early 1920s, the British economy was heavily committed to the older staple products, such as coal, iron and steel and shipbuilding. Structural change was slow and Britain was losing its competitive edge. Manufacturing output reached an all-time low during the depression of 1929-1932 but recovered thereafter.

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Search using Rationalisation British Overseas Airways Corporation Safeguarding of Industries Act

Further reading

  • Middleton, R., Government Versus the Market: the Growth of the Public Sector, Economic Manageement and British Economic Performance, c. 1890-1979 (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1996)
  • Eichengreen, B., The British Economy between the Wars In Floud, R. and Johnson, P. Eds., The Economic History of Britain since 1700, Vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994)
  • Hannah, L., The Rise of the Corporate Economy ( London: Methuen, 1983)