Government and the Enterprise since 1900: The Changing Problem of Efficiency

Surveying governmental industrial policy in Britain, James Tomlinson explores the perennial concern of government to improve the efficiency and the competitiveness of British industry. Organized chronologically, the book focuses on the formation of policy-making and policy implementation, according to the ideas and beliefs that have dominated this century. Thus, industrial policy is traced through wars and recessions, the building of the welfare state and times of growth, and through stagflation, economic liberalism, and deindustrialization. The constant theme is the attempt by all governments to achieve the objectives of high growth, low unemployment, and international competitiveness. Tomlinson reveals both the macroeconomic context of industrial policy, and microeconomic effects of these policies. The focus of the book is on British industry, although in many cases Tomlinson uses a comparative perspective to set British policy in the world context.