Structural Change and Industrialisation in Inter-war Central-East Europe

This study attempts an assessment of changes in the relative rank order of branches of industry within the economic structure of six Central-East European countries and puts forward some tentative explanations for the specific industrialisation process which took place since the Industrial Revolution in Western Europe. It analyses economic structures; examines the significant growth of certain industries, especially the textile industry in twentieth-century conditions; then looks into the reasons for this phenomenon when, at the same time, industrial advance in the West proceeded on quite different lines; and finally, discusses the question whether this specific development can without reservations be regarded as a sign of economic backwardness.