Working Paper: NBER ID: w28224
Authors: Ted Fertik; Naomi R. Lamoreaux
Abstract: This paper considers the effect of the First World War on large-scale businesses in Second-Industrial-Revolution industries like steel, electricity, and chemicals. For firms in the nations of the Entente, we argue, the war mainly interrupted long-term trends that resumed in the aftermath of the conflict. For Germany, however, the war and its subsequent territorial settlements had a disruptive impact on the economic geography of key industries. The global restructuring that resulted from the collapse of the Habsburg, Romanov, and Ottoman empires and Germany’s loss of its colonial possessions set up a new kind of international rivalry as German firms sought to regain their dominance by contracting with emerging nations in the European periphery and the Global South to build industrial capacity, forcing Britain and the now capital-rich United States to compete for this business or see their influence in these areas decline. The end result of this rivalry was the construction of massive steel works in Brazil and other industrializing countries around the world. These investments would provide the foundation for the import-substituting policies of the post-World War II era.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: N10; N40; N60; O14
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| World War I (N44) | interruption of long-term growth trends of large-scale enterprises in Entente countries (N14) |
| World War I (N44) | significant disruptions in Germany's industrial landscape (L16) |
| World War I (N44) | new international rivalry (F52) |
| new international rivalry (F52) | German firms seeking contracts with emerging nations (F23) |
| new international rivalry (F52) | reshaping of the global industrial landscape (L16) |
| new international rivalry (F52) | construction of massive steel works in Brazil and elsewhere (L79) |