Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to begin developing a comprehensive picture of the material underpinnings of the trade policy process which led to the emergence of protectionism in the textile and clothing sector. In accordance with the arguments presented in the introduction, it is important to draw systematic linkages between (a) the dynamics of economic structure at the level of domestic economies and international production and markets; (b) the policy preferences of the various actors involved; and (c) the actual unfolding of the political conflicts over the nature and distributive impact of the market which occurred over time across levels of analysis and institutions of the international system.
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Notes
For a more complete account of the economics of the sector in the 1970s and 1980s, see by way of example: T.G. Taylor, The Role of the Textile Industry in a Developed Economy (PhD thesis, University of Wales, Swansea, November 1981); OECD Report; Brian Toyne et al., The Global Textile Industry (London: Allen & Unwin, 1984); and more recently, William R. Cline, The Future of World Trade in Textiles and Apparel, rev. edn (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1990).
Laurent Benzoni, ‘Le Textile: industrie de l’avenir’, in Bertrand Bellon and Jean-Marie Chevalier (eds), L’Industrie en France (Paris: Flammarion 1983), p. 95.
Even in the late 1980s, the textile and clothing sector remained the single largest manufacturing employer in the United States; see Lane Steven Hurewitz, Textiles, a volume in the series by Terence P. Stewart (ed.), The GATT Uruguay Round 1986–1992: A Negotiating History (Dordrecht: Kluwer Law and Taxation, 1993), p. 68
Arthur Knight, Private Enterprise and Public Intervention: The Courtaulds Experience (London: Allen & Unwin, 1974), pp. 42–45.
Robin Anson and Paul Simpson, World Textile Trade and Production Trends, Special Report no. 1108 (London: Economist Intelligence Unit, June 1988), p. 249.
The following figures are taken from France, Conseil Economique et Social, ‘Le Devenir des industries du textile et de l’habillement,’ Journal Officiel (Avis et Rapports du Conseil Economique et Social), 25 February 1982; p. 221; hereafter referred to as ‘CES Report’. See also Victor Prévot, Géographie des textiles, Paris: Masson 1979
These figures on the US are taken from William R. Cline, The Future of World Trade in Textiles and Apparel (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1990), pp. 83–92.
See J-P. Gilly and François Morin, Les Groupes industriels en France: la concentration de l’appareil productif depuis 1945 (Paris: Notes et Etudes Documentaires nos. 4605–6, La Documentation Française, 1981).
Benoît Boussemart and Jean-Claude Rabier, Le Dossier Agache-Willot — un capitalisme à contre-courant (Paris: Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, 1983), p. 31.
H. Richard Friman, Patchwork Protectionism: Textile Trade Policy in the United States, Japan, and West Germany (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990)
See W.M. Corden and G. Fels (eds), Public Assistance to Industry: Protection and Subsidies in Britain and Germany (London: Macmillan, 1976)
Donald B. Keesing and Martin Wolf, ‘Questions on International Trade in Textiles and Clothing’, The World Economy, vol. 4/1, March 1981, p. 92
Philippe Meunier, ‘L’Evolution des échanges et de la pénétration étrangère dans le secteur du textile et de l’habillement’, Chroniques de l’Actualité de la SEDEIS, vol. 24/12, 15 June 1981, p. 398.
OECD Report, pp. 27–8; see also Pierre Dubois and Giusto Barisi, Le Défi technologique dans l’industrie de l’habillement: les stratégies des entrepreneurs français et italiens (Paris: CNRS, Groupe Sociologie du Travail, 1982).
Including the operation of Engel’s law (see Introduction, note 26). As aggregate levels of wealth increased, households spent proportionately more on goods such as culture and recreation, health, transport, and housing and less on basic necessities. Food and clothing fell considerably as a proportion of household expenditure (Senate Report, p. 221). Likewise, income elasticities for clothing products declined, making consumers more sensitive to price. There was also a noticeable shift in consumer preferences within the overall range of textile and clothing products (Pierre Hoffmeister, ‘Le Textile européenne: secteur en crise’, Revue d’economie politique, 6, 1980, p. 931
This is the subject of extensive literature. See for example Suzanne Berger, ‘The Traditional Sector in France and Italy’, in Berger and Michael J. Piore, Dualism and Discontinuity in Industrial Societies (Cambridge University Press 1980); ‘Comment’ by D. Goldey on article by Suzanne Berger in H. Machin and V. Wright, Economic Policy and Policy-Making under the Mitterrand Presidency 1981–1984 (London: Pinter, 1985).
Jean Lambert, Le Patron (Brussels: Bloud and Gay, 1969).
Benoît Boussemart and Jean-Claude Rabier, Le Dossier Agache-Willot: un capitalisme à contre-cour ant (Paris: Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, 1983), p. 26.
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© 1998 Geoffrey R. D. Underhill
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Underhill, G.R.D. (1998). Material Underpinnings: Economic Structure and Industrial Crisis, 1974–84. In: Industrial Crisis and the Open Economy. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26903-7_2
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