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Firm Size and Economic Backwardness: A New Look at the French Industrialization Debate

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  • Nye, John Vincent

Abstract

This article challenges the traditional view of French industry—that small, inefficient family firms retarded France's economic growth—by examining data for the French textile and flour milling industries taken from the industry census of 1861–1865. The evidence suggests that the average size of French firms suited the economic and technological conditions of the day. The industries studied exhibit constant returns to scale over a wide output range. France would not seem likely to have gained much from larger firms. This is consistent with revisionist contentions that French industry was as rational as that of other nations.

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  • Nye, John Vincent, 1987. "Firm Size and Economic Backwardness: A New Look at the French Industrialization Debate," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(3), pages 649-669, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:47:y:1987:i:03:p:649-669_04
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    Cited by:

    1. Mara P. Squicciarini & Nico Voigtländer, 2015. "Human Capital and Industrialization: Evidence from the Age of Enlightenment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(4), pages 1825-1883.
    2. Robert A. Margo, 2014. "Economies of Scale in Nineteenth-Century American Manufacturing Revisited: A Resolution of the Entrepreneurial Labor Input Problem," NBER Chapters, in: Enterprising America: Businesses, Banks, and Credit Markets in Historical Perspective, pages 215-244, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Kris Inwood & Ian Keay, 2005. "Bigger establishments in thicker markets: can we explain early productivity differentials between Canada and the United States?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(4), pages 1327-1363, November.
    4. François Crouzet, 2003. "The historiography of French economic growth in the nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 56(2), pages 215-242, May.
    5. Stéphane Bécuwe & Bertrand Blancheton & Christopher Meissner, 2016. "The first great liberalization : Competition, Quality and Productivity," Post-Print hal-02149622, HAL.
    6. Maria Rosaria Carillo & Vincenzo Lombardo & Alberto Zazzaro, 2015. "Family Firms and Entrepreneurial Human Capital in the Process of Development," CSEF Working Papers 400, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    7. Stéphane Becuwe & Bertrand Blancheton & Christopher M Meissner, 2018. "Stages of diversification: France, 1836–1938," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 22(4), pages 430-461.
    8. B. Zorina Khan, 2015. "Invisible Women: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Family Firms in France during Early Industrialization," NBER Working Papers 20854, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ian Keay, 2001. "An Empty Promise: Average Cost Savings And Scale Economies Among Canadian And American Manufacturers, 1910-1998," Working Paper 1002, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    10. Doraszelski, Ulrich, 2004. "Measuring returns to scale in nineteenth-century French industry," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 256-281, July.

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