The Role of Forests in Witte's Industrialization Drive

1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 249-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiril Tomoff

AbstractRussia's forests played a crucial role in the industrialization drive that Minister of Finance Sergei Witte led beginning in 1892. While most histories of Imperial Russian industrialization understandably concentrate on heavy industry, railroads, and coal, the main focii of Witte's industrial policy and rhetoric,1 this essay argues that forests contributed crucial sources of income and industrial fuel for Witte's campaign while providing the material for the expansion of a distinct forest industrial sector. The forest income of the Ministry of State Domains became a growing source of revenue for a government that needed all the money it could get as it financed railroad construction to propel heavy industry through a period of rapid growth. Forests also provided charcoal and fuel wood for industrial and non-industrial consumption throughout the 1890s. Wood provided all or most of the fuel for Urals metallurgy, the textile industry, still Russia's largest, and a growing forest industrial sector. Forests even helped satisfy the fuel demands of the showcase areas of rapid industrialization, the railroads and southern metallurgy. This essay demonstrates that the rate at which timber was being felled outstripped forest exports and population growth. It argues that industrial consumption of wood fuel, including charcoal, spurred the development of a timber industry which was to remain in place to satisfy the steep increase in forest exports during the second industrialization spurt before 1914. Forests' importance to Russia's industrialization should not be ignored.

1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-227
Author(s):  
Khwaja Sarmad

This book documents in a comprehensive manner the 'twists and turns' in India's industrial policy and strongly suggests the need for a re-orientation of this policy to overcome the weaknesses in the industrial structure and to utilize the sources of its strength. The author has had a distinguished career in the Indian Economic Service and brings this experience to bear on his analysis of the evolution of industrial policy in India. In India, the primary objective of planned development has been the creation of a technologically mature society capable of sustaining a process of self-propelled growth without extreme concentration of wealth in a few hands. It is rightly pointed out in the book that this objective is possible only in the context of rapid growth, which is the ultimate test of industrial policy. The book traces the origins of India's industrial policy and analyses its evolution during the past thirty years, showing how there has been an increasing gap between the objectives of this policy and the performance of the industrial sector.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. K. Langat ◽  
E. K. Maranga ◽  
A. A. Aboud ◽  
J. K. Cheboiwo

Forests in Kenya are threatened by unsustainable uses and conversion to alternative land uses. In spite of the consequences of forest degradation and biodiversity loss and reliance of communities on forests livelihoods, there is little empirical data on the role of forest resources in livelihoods of the local communities. Socioeconomic, demographic, and forest use data were obtained by interviewing 367 households. Forest product market survey was undertaken to determine prices of various forest products for valuation of forest use. Forest income was significant to households contributing 33% of total household income. Fuel wood contributed 50%, food (27%), construction material (18%), and fodder, and thatching material 5% to household forest income. Absolute forest income and relative forest income (%) were not significantly different across study locations and between ethnic groups. However, absolute forest income and relative forest income (%) were significantly different among wealth classes. Poor households were more dependent on forests resources. However, in absolute terms, the rich households derived higher forest income. These results provide valuable information on the role of forest resources to livelihoods and could be applied in developing forest conservation policies for enhanced ecosystem services and livelihoods.


Slavic Review ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Moskoff

When the Communist Party took power in Rumania in 1944, it inherited a poor, agrarian society. In 1950, before the advent of planning, three-fourths of Rumania's labor force was still in agriculture; only 12 percent of the labor force was in the industrial sector. Per capita income for the country as a whole was the equivalent of thirty dollars and in agriculture it was close to twenty dollars. The new regime did not have to search very far for a general development model. It adopted the Soviet strategy of rapid economic growth through the priority development of heavy industry. Women have played a key role in this process; indeed, it may be argued that they form the linchpin of Rumanian growth strategy.


Author(s):  
Sumit K. Majumdar

The chapter summarizes the nature of capital and capitalism. The chapter also highlights concepts related to the role of the State in economic activity, and the nature of industrial policy. The initial concepts dealt with are that of capital as a fund, capital as structure and capital as capabilities. Capitalism necessitates socially organizing production. Assessing organizational and administrative contingencies is important for understanding capitalism. Institutions are the bedrock of capitalism. The broad roles of Government, in designing laws and regulations, building infrastructure and acting as entrepreneur, are discussed. The implementation of national industrial strategies facilitates growth. The nature of industrial strategies is highlighted. Industrial policy activities, as defined by the three facets of institutions, innovation and involvement, are discussed. With respect to India’s industrial strategy, independent India’s founders’ visions of a modern industrial society, grounded in a need to involve Government in institution building, are introduced.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089124242110228
Author(s):  
Ben Armstrong

State and local governments frequently invest in policies aimed at stimulating the growth of new industries, but studies of industrial policy and related economic development initiatives cast doubt on their effectiveness. This article examines the role of state-level industrial policies in contributing to the different economic trajectories of two U.S. metro areas—Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, Ohio—as they adapted to the decline of their legacy industries. Comparative case studies show that industrial policies in Pittsburgh, which empowered research universities as local economic leaders, contributed to the transformation of the local economy. In Cleveland, by contrast, state industrial policies invested in making incremental improvements, particularly in legacy sectors. The article concludes that by empowering new local economic actors—such as universities—industrial policies can foment political change that enables structural economic change to follow.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-52
Author(s):  
Ann Compton

The mid-nineteenth century critical discourse compartmentalized art and industry by crediting each with specific powers. Manufacturing was identified with the development of technologically advanced processes, materials and products, while fine artists were given authority over the aesthetic aspects of industrial design. The idea that the two sectors had separate areas of responsibility has proved extremely enduring, and continues to influence our perceptions of Victorian manufacturing. This article contributes to the wider task of re-evaluating the relationship between art and industry in nineteenth-century Britain by examining the role of design in potteries and art metalworking firms from the manufacturer’s perspective. It shows that contrary to the picture painted by Victorian critics, design was central to the ambitions and commercial operations of manufacturing businesses. Crucially, decisions about the recruitment of design staff were shaped by the close connection between the creation of new products at the drawing board, and their fabrication in the workshop. Since each branch of manufacturing had its distinctive characteristics, there were significant practical, aesthetic and commercial advantages for manufacturers in employing experienced designers who knew the trade, and were fully conversant with production practices. Unless a professional sculptor joined a firm, they were unlikely to have this inside knowledge, which made commissioning one-off designs from artists a riskier proposition. Manufacturers found that one of the best ways to get around this was to make reductions of sculptures, and initial demand for statuettes in Parian suggested they would be profitable for all concerned. In the end, the market did not live up to its early promise, but the publicity given to Parian statuettes compensated manufacturers and sculptors. Overall, it was this increased public exposure for art manufactures that was the prime benefit of the mid-nineteenth century critical discourse for the industrial sector.


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