This book provides, for the first time, an integrated economic history of state /business relations in the major powers in the period 1815-1939, and offers a completely new perspective on the links between tariff policies, state enterprise in manufacturing, the treatment of the peasantry, regulation of railways, taxation of the business sector, policies on cartels, trusts and competition.

Part I: Industrialisation and the State 1815-70 1. Introduction 2. France, Europe and the Napoleonic Legacy 3. The Unifying German States Compared to the United Kingdom 4. Free Land and Unfree Labour: USA and Russia Part II: Business Growth and the Nation States 1870-1939 5. German Business in the World Economy: Cartels on Autarky 6. Peasent Farms, Industrial Growth and National Defence in France Appendix: Sectoral Shares and Productivity Growth in Manufacturing in the Major Powers 1860-1928 7. The Peasent Economy, Heavy Industry and National Defence in Russia Appendix: The Challenge from the Newcomer: Japan 1870-1939 8. The Costs of Being First: Britain 1870-1939 9. USA 1870-1939: Natural Resources, Free Markets and Fractured Government 10. Conclusion

Robert Millward is Professor Emeritus of Economic History, University of Manchester, UK.