Deindustrialisation

Abstract

‘Deindustrialisation’ refers to the contraction of the industrial (or secondary) sector noted in many advanced economies. It has generated widespread concern, accompanied by many calls for policies to reverse the process and to re-establish a revitalised and growing industrial base. For instance, Business Week (3 June 1980) argued:

The US economy must undergo a fundamental change if it is to retain a measure of economic viability let alone leadership in the remaining 20 years of this century. The goal must be nothing less than the reindustrialisation of America.

Is the manufacturing animal a duck-billed platypus or a phoenix? P. Donaldson (1985, p. 61)