Railways and the Economic Development of Western Europe, 1830–1914

256 Pages·1983·20.708 MB·English

by  Patrick O’Brien (eds.)

Railways and
the Economic
Development of
Western Europe,
1830–1914
EDITED BY
PATRICK O'BRIEN
ST ANTONY'S/MACMILLAN SERIES
RAILWAYS AND THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF
WESTERN EUROPE, 1830-1914
Sf Antony's/MacmillanSeries
General editor:Archie Brown. Fellowof St Antony'sCollege, Oxford
RoyAllison FINLAND'S RELATIONS WITH THE SOVIET UNION, 1944-84
Said Amir Arjomand(editor) FROM NATIONALISMTO REVOLUTIONARY
ISLAM
Anders Aslund PRIVATEENTERPRISE IN EASTERN EUROPE
Archie Brown(editor) POLITICALCULTUREAND COMMUNISTSTUDIES
Archie Brownand Michael Kaser(editors) SOVIET POLICY FOR THE 1980s
S.B.Burman CHIEFDOM POLITICS AND ALIEN LAW
Renfrew Christie ELECTRICITY, INDUSTRY AND CLASS IN SOUTH AFRICA
Robert O. Collins and Francis M. Deng(editors) THE BRITISH INTHESUDAN,
1898-1956
Wilhelm DeistTHE WEHRMACHTAND GERMAN REARMAMENT
Julius A. Elias PLATO'S DEFENCEOF POETRY
Ricardo Ffrench-Davis and ErnestoTironi(editors) LATIN AMERICA AND THE
NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICORDER
David FootmanANTONIN BESSEOF ADEN
Bohdan Harasymiw POLITICAL ELITE RECRUITMENT INTHESOVIET
UNION
NeilHarding(editor) THESTATE INSOCIALISTSOCIETY
Richard Holt SPORTAND SOCIETY IN MODERN FRANCE
Albert Hourani EUROPE AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Albert HouraniTHE EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST
J.R.JenningsGEORGES SOREL
Bohdan Krawchenko SOCIALCHANGEAND NATIONALCONSCIOUSNESS IN
TWENTIETH-CENTURY UKRAINE
A.Kemp-Welch(translator)THE BIRTH OF SOLIDARITY
Paul Kennedyand Anthony Nicholls(editors) NATIONALIST AND RACIALIST
MOVEMENTS IN BRITAIN AND GERMANY BEFORE 1914
Richard Kindersley(editor) INSEARCH OF EUROCOMMUNISM
GiselaC. Lebzelter POLITICALANTI-SEMITISM INENGLAND 1918-1939
Nancy Lubin LABOUR AND NATIONALITY INSOVIET CENTRALASIA
C.A.MacDonaldTHE UNITEDSTATES, BRITAIN AND APPEASEMENT,
1936-1939
David Nicholls HAITI INCARIBBEAN CONTEXT
PatrickO'Brien(editor) RAILWAYS AND THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
OF WESTERN EUROPE, 1830-1914
Roger Owen(editor) STUDIES INTHEECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY
OF PALESTINE INTHE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES
D.C.M.Plattand Guido diTella (editors) ARGENTINA, AUSTRALIA AND
CANADA .
Irena Powell WRITERS AND SOCIETY IN MODERN JAPAN
T.H.Rigbyand Ferenc Feher (editors) POLITICAL LEGITIMATION IN
COMMUNISTSTATES
Marilyn Rueschemeyer PROFESSIONAL WORKAND MARRIAGE
A.J.R.Russell-Wood THE BLACKMAN INSLAVERY AND FREEDOM IN
COLONIAL BRAZIL
Aron Shai BRITAINAND CHINA, 1941-47
LewisH.SiegelbaurnTHE POLITICS OF INDUSTRIALMOBILIZATION IN
RUSSIA, 1914-17
DavidStafford BRITAINAND EUROPEAN RESISTANCE, 1940-45
NancyStepan THE IDEA OF RACE INSCIENCE
Marvin Schwartz THE POLITICS OF BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY INTHEERA
OF DISRAELI AND GLADSTONE
Guido diTella ARGENTINA UNDER PER6N, 1973-76
Rosemary Thorp(editor) LATIN AMERICA INTHE 1930s
Rosemary Thorpand Laurence Whitehead (editors) INFLATION AND
STABILISATION IN LATIN AMERICA
RudolfL. Tokes (editor) OPPOSITION IN EASTERN EUROPE
Railways and the
Economic
Development of
Western Europe,
1830-1914
Edited by
Patrick O'Brien
Lecturer inEconomic History and Faculty Fellow
ofStAntony'sCollege. Oxford
M
in association with
MACMILLAN St Antony's College, Oxford
© St Antony's College, Oxford 1983
Soft cover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1983 978-0-333-33000-5
All rights reserved No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied
or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance
with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
First edition 1983
Reprinted 1985
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG212XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-06326-0 ISBN 978-1-349-06324-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06324-6
For Bob Fogel and Al Fishlow
Contents
List of TabLee and Figures 1x
Ac'k:nowledgements xii
Notes on the Contributo~s xiii
1 Transport and Economic Development in Europe,
1789-1914 1
Patrick 0'Brien
2 France 28
FrCmt;ois Oaron
3 Italy 49
Stefano Eenoaldiea
4 Germany 121
Raine~ F~errd7,ing
5 Spain 148
Antonio Gomez~endOza
6 Britain 170
Gary Hawke and Jim Higgins
7 Belgium 203
Nichel Laffut
8 Railways and Economic Growth in Mediterranean
Countries: Some Methodological Remarks 227
Gianni Toniolo
Indee 237
vii
List of Tables and Figures
TABLES
1.1 European railway development 8
1.2 Estimates of social'savings on freight 10
1.3 Percentages of output delivered to railways 16
2.1 Investment expenditures on French railways 32
2.2 Indices of investment in railways 33
2.3 Supplementary investment expenditures per million
of incremental receipts for Compagnie du Chemin
de Fer du Nord 36
2.4 The value of public works expenditures (for
transport) compared to total industrial product 38
2.5 Railway orders compared to total production for
selected industries 38
3.1 Railway development in Western Europe. 1860-1913 52
3.2 Indices of industrial production 55
3.3 Construction value added in the construction and
maintenance of rail and tramway lines 61
3.4 Engineering value added in the manufacture and
maintenance of rail and tramway rolling stock 62
3.5 Engineering value added in the manufacture and
maintenance of railway rolling stock: composition 63
3.6 Metalmaking value added in the manufacture of rail.
accessories and metal for railway rolling stock 64
3.7 Comparisons of railway-related and total
production in engineering 71
3.8 Comparisons of railway-related and total
production in metalmaking 73
3.9 Principal railway shipments. international trade
and comparable domestic production in 1911 79
3.10 Comparative statistics for the principal Italian.
French and German railway systems in 1898 83
3.11 Sample rates of return on the investment in
railways 91
4.1 Net investment flows in railways (R) in 'Gewerbe'
(G). and in the entire German economy (D) 1851-1913 124
ix
x List of Tables and Figures
4.2 Iron production in Prussia 1837-65 125
4.3 Distribution of the locomotives on Prussian
railways by year of purchase and country of
origin in 1853 126
4.4 Railway-derived demand for iron (in pig iron
equivalents) in Germany 1840-59 127
4.5 Origin of the stock of rails on Prussian rail
ways 1843-63 128
4.6 German shares of British iron exports 1830-69 129
4.7 British iron exports to German states 1830-69 131
4.8 Railway freight transportation and freight rates
in Germany 1840-1913 132
4.9 Coal transportation on Prussian railways 134
4.10 Coal transportation to Berlin 135
4.11 Input-output relations between some sectors in
Germany or the Zollverein, or Prussia from the
1840s to the 1860s 138
5.1 Freight social savings for 1878 152
5.2 Railways and the iron industry, 1855-1913 158
5.3 Railways and the coal industry, 1865-1914 161
5.4 The commercialisation of grain, flour, wine and
coal by rail, 1881-1913 165
6.1 Expenditure on creating, improving and
maintaining canals, roads, etc., 1750-1850 173
6.2 Investment in transport systems 179
6.3 The social saving on freight in 1865 191
6.4 Hypothetical social saving of canals, 1800 197
7.1 Development of the Belgian railways system,
1825-1913 209
7.2 Access points to the railway system, 1835-1914 210
7.3 Distribution of the distances to the railways
in 1908 211
7.4 Fuel consumption on Belgian railways (1840-191~ 213
7.5 Output of Belgian railways, 1835-1913 214
7.6 Output of Belgian railways, 1835-1913 215
7.7 Annual average growth rates 216
7.8 Comparisons betweennavigable waterways and
railways 218
7.9 Road traffic in millions of ton-kilometres 219
7.10 Development of Belgium roads 219
7.11 Costs of transport (in centimes) for one passenger
and of one ton of goods over one kilometre about
1850 220
7.12 Expansion of freight traffic 1845/46 - 1908/13 221
7.13 Annual average growth rates of Belgian industrial
production in the nineteenth century 222
List of Tables and Figures xi
FIGURES
2.1 Indices of growth capital formation 31
2.2 Productivity 'indices 41
2.3 Costs of freight per ton-kilometre charged by
Compagnie du Chemin de Fer du Nord. 1849-1912 43
7.1 Development of the Belgian railway network, 1843 207
7.2 Development of the Belgian railway network. 1913 208