1780-1860
- Publication date
- Publisher
- 2014
Abstract
In the early 19th century coal mining in the region of Aachen (Prussian Rhine Province)
developed to an industrial scale within few decades production was mechanised and new
types of industrial organization emerged that allowed for concentration on production and
economies of scale. The region hosted two mining areas (the Wurm area and the Inde area)
showing rather different patterns of development; while the industry on the Inde was already
concentrated at the turn of the century, and industrial modes of production emerged
earlier, the industry on the Wurm developed slowly more slowly. Decentralized ownership
prohibited scale economics before the mid-1830s. Then, new joint stock companies allowed
for concentration of ownership, rationalisation of production and efficient governance.
The analysis shows that these different patterns result from different pre-industrial
institutional arrangements that were only harmonized during the French occupation of the
Rhineland.
The ms. containes 189p., 24 figures and maps, 49 tables on regional industrial production