This book surveys the industrial policy of British governments from the beginning of the century to the early 1990s, exploring the perennial concern of administrations of all complexions with high growth, low unemployment, and competitiveness. The analysis proceeds chronologically and focuses on the formation and implementation of policy according to the prevailing ideology of the party in power.

Industrial policy is traced through times of war and recession, the building of the welfare state, growth and stagflation, economic liberalism and deindustrialization. Two case studies, of the cotton and car industries, are presented to illustrate the historical discussion.

1. Dr Tomlinson, well established as an analyst of economic history and government policy, here contends that successive British governments have failed in their quest for an acceptable industrial policy that combines the central objectives shared by the major political parties. His trenchant exposition of both the macroeconomic context of industrial policy and its microeconomic effects illuminates the debate on a consistently controversial area of economic policy.