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Logistics, Market Size and Giant Plants in the Early 20th Century: A Global View

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  • Leslie Hannah

    (Faculty of Economis, University of Tokyo and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales)

Abstract

Around 1900, the businesses of developed Europe - transporting freight by a more advantageous mix of ships, trains and horses - encountered logistic barriers to trade lower than the tyranny of distance imposed on the sparsely populated United States. Highly urbanized, economically integrated and compact northwest Europe was a market space larger than, and - factoring in other determinants besides its (low) tariffs - not less open to inter-country trade than the contemporary American market was to interstate trade. By the early twentieth century, the First European Integration enabled mines and factories - in small, as well as large, countries - to match the size of United States plants, where factor endowments, consumer demand or scale economies required that.

Suggested Citation

  • Leslie Hannah, 2007. "Logistics, Market Size and Giant Plants in the Early 20th Century: A Global View," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-486, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    • Handle: RePEc:tky:fseres:2007cf486
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    File URL: http://www.cirje.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/research/dp/2007/2007cf486.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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