Financial Assistance to British Industry

Abstract

The past fourteen years have seen a rapid extension of government intervention in industry, frequently though not always involving financial assistance. During the 1950s goverment intervention had been minimal. After the recovery from the payments crisis of 1951 and the recession in the following year, production expanded steadily if comparatively slowly, and the postwar economic crisis appeared to be over. However, since the end of the 1950s there has been increasing dissatisfaction with the economic and industrial performance of Britain relative to that of other countries and, therefore, a new emphasis on policies for promoting economic growth. This motive for government intervention has combined with recurrent and worsening payments crises, and with the intransigance of regional problems, to produce the remarkable history of financial assistance to industry described in this chapter. Each new government since 1959 has carried the interventions further. Meanwhile, the condition of British industry has not appeared to improve, and while there are many other explanations of its difficulties, it is certainly appropriate to inquire about the effects of financial assistance.¹