The industrialization of Yugoslavia under the workers' self-management system: Institutional change and rapid growth

The main concerns of this paper are certain selected aspects of Yugoslav industrialization since 1952. To provide some familiarity with industrial progress prior to 1952, the paper begins, after a brief introduction, with a short historical survey of the Yugoslav economy. This survey is divided into two parts, the first dealing with the inter-war period and the second with the period of central planning which followed the second World War and preceded the introduction of the workers' self-management system. Next follows a review of institutional and policy developments since the introduction of the workers' self-management system. This section is also divided into two parts. The first part is concerned with institutional and policy aspects of what has been termed the inaugural stage of development under the system of workers' self-management, that is, the years from 1952 to 1961; a brief description of the system is contained in this segment. The latter part deals with the more recent period, extending from 1961, which we have termed the reform stage. Following this generally descriptive material is an empirical examination of Yugoslav industrialization since 1952. This section begins with an overview of Yugoslav industrialization since 1952. Then the actual level and structure of industrial production is compared with hypothetical figures based on the past performance of other countries. Next the roles of import substitution and export expansion in the industrial growth process are examined. After this the interrelatedness of the economy is investigated. The linkages associated with the various economic sectors were computed and analyzed in the light of certain other industrialization variables. In the next sector the structure of Yugoslavia's foreign trade is assessed in terms of its capital and labor content and its directional pattern. The regional distribution of Yugoslavia's expanding national income is the subject of the next part of the paper. Following this an examination is made of the size structure of industrial enterprises, and changes in this structure over time; efficiency implications of the size structure are noted. Some concluding remarks bring the study to a close.