Concentration in British Industry
An Empirical Study of the Structure of Industrial Production 1935–51

1960 study of concentration data covering almost all of British industry, made available by the Board of Trade.

Richard Evely (Author), I. M. D. Little (Author)

9781107601345, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 June 2011

374 pages
23.4 x 15.6 x 2 cm, 0.52 kg

Concentration data - which expresses the relative importance of the largest firms in an industry - covering almost the entire range of British industry, were made available for this study, first published in 1960, by the Board of Trade. The authors combined with each industry's concentration-ratio with the average and relative sizes of its constituent firms and plants, and so sought to determine its structural type. Then, by comparing these results with those of an earlier study, they established in which trades significant changes in concentration occurred since 1935. Two chapters describe how the leading firms in such highly concentrated trades as sugar refining, wallpaper, matches, explosives, tinplate and oil-refining grew over the years and how they maintained their position. There is also a discussion of the relevance of such factors as mergers, nationalisation, technological changes, illustrated by reference to brief case-studies of twenty trades.

List of tables
List of figures
Preface
General introduction and summary of findings
Part I. Concepts and Methodology: 1. Concentration and the census trade
2. Concentration, industry structure and plant structure
3. Concentration and monopoly power
Part II. Concentration and Industry Structure in 1951: 4. Concentration in 1951
5. Industry structure in 1951
6. Plant structure in 1951
7. Statistical analysis of factors relating to concentration
8. The growth of leading firms in the high-concentration trades
9. Factors contributing to the maintenance of high concentration
Part III. Changes in Concentration, 1935–51: 10. Changes in concentration: some problems of methodology
11. Changes in concentration and factors relating to concentration, 1935–51
12. Factors contributing to changes in concentration, 1935–51
Part IV. Case-Studies of Trades with Changes in Concentration, 1935–51: 13. Introduction to industry case-studies
14. Trades with increased concentration
15. Trades with decreased concentration
Appendices
General index
Index of companies
Index of trades.

Subject Areas: Economics of industrial organisation [KCD]