Historical national accounting is nowadays recognized as an important field of research in economic history. Nevertheless the sub discipline also receives a lot of criticism. Several estimates would be based on shaky data material so that the outcome would in part reflect the personal opinion of those who produced the series. Moreover in some publications the estimation methods are explained in very vague terms thereby making a duplication of the results almost impossible. This book tries to remedy these critiques. The estimation procedures of the various components of Belgian national income between 1920 and 1939 are thoroughly discussed and explained.The book also falsifies the proposition that "Belgium is a country without statistics". There are many series available but they are scattered over many publications and therefore often difficult to find. One merit of this book is that it brings together quantitative material from very diverse sources and origins. Not only economic historians will benefit from the wealth of statistics presented here, but also e.g. social historians.

Based on the analysis of more than 35,000 company balance sheets, annual series of gross private investment have been constructed for 15 different sectors in Belgium between 1900 and 1995. The resulting data clearly show that the level of gross investment in the Belgian economy, expressed as a percentage of national income, was generally much lower than during the post world war two period. An international comparison demonstrates that Belgium usually invested far less than its major competitors. Moreover, the traditional coal and metal industries benefitted most of the investment effort instead of newer sectors like the chemical industry. Thus the present study contributes to explaining for the relatively poor growth performances of the Belgian economy prior to the 1960s.

By the end of the nineteenth century Belgium was enjoying considerable economic success. However, the economic experience has proved significantly less stable in the twentieth century. The Belgian Economy in the Twentieth Century offers a detailed study of one of the small economies constituting the Benelux group. Professor Andre Mommen describes and analyses the changing fortunes of the Belgian economy throughout this century. He traces the Belgian experience from the state regulation of the interwar period to its current difficulties. Central to the discussion is the innate problem of Belgian dependence on international trade due to the country's small domestic market. Professor Mommen places this examination within its political context by confronting the problems which have arisen since the first oil crisis and the effect they have had on Belgian politics and society. This volume explains how a small but industrialized European nation succeeded in preserving its competitiveness only to succumb to a devastating debt crisis in the last decade. The Belgian experience as discussed in The Belgian Economy in the Twentieth Century perfectly illustrates the volatility of European economic trends this century.

Unlike most existing textbooks on the economic history of modern Europe, which offer a country-by-country approach, The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe rethinks Europe's economic history since 1700 as unified and pan-European, with the material organized by topic rather than by country. This second volume tracks Europe's economic history through three major phases since 1870. The first phase was an age of globalization and of European economic and political dominance that lasted until the First World War. The second, from 1914 to 1945, was one of war, deglobalization, and depression and the third was one of growing integration not only within Europe but also between Europe and the global economy. Leading authors offer comprehensive and accessible introductions to these patterns of globalization and deglobalization as well as to key themes in modern economic history such as economic growth, business cycles, sectoral developments, and population and living standards.

The ubiquitous »cultural turn« of the 1990s did not spare the thinkers of economics - however, at the same time, economic topics have gained a new importance in cultural studies. This volume focuses on cultures of economy in regions of former Yugoslavia as part of South-Eastern Europe, supported by theoretical perspectives. It examines narratives and poetics of economy in literature, film, and art, as well as in public discourse. The contributors spotlight different historical periods: the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, Socialist Yugoslavia and the transitional and neoliberal period since the 1990s.

Recoge: Agricultura:conceptos y definiciones; Agricultura en Bélgica antes de 1880; Métodos; Producción agrícola:análisis e interpretación.

Authoritarianism and Democracy in Europe, 1919-39 offers a comprehensive analysis of the survival or breakdown of democracy in interwar Europe. The contributors explore factors such as the historical, social-structural and political-cultural backgrounds of the policies that European countries attempted to implement to counter the world economic crisis of 1929. The analysis serves as an important backdrop for the assessment of current democratic developments in former communist Europe and highlights some of the problems and risks involved in the transition process.

This comprehensive single-volume source of information on the social and economic transformations in Europe over the past hundred years, fills a critical gap in our knowledge. It examinations population trends, social structures, and economic structures, and offers an integrative overview of changes in both the organization of the economy and the role of the state in economic management.

Twenty-seven articles published between 1937 and 1993 provide a broad overview of the Belgian economy, focusing not only on the strictly economic aspects of development but also on related aspects such as technological progress, monetary and financial policy, and standard of living. The studies address topics such as the problem of de- industrialization, structural unemployment, industrial restructuring, the export-oriented nature of Belgian industry and its competitiveness on the international marketplace, and institutional developments and adaptations. No index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR