ABSTRACT
The present chapter addresses itself, at a general level, to the different perceptions of the nature and principal determinants of the excess industrial capacity observed in most of the OECD countries since at least the mid-1970s. The focus will be on the factors and issues common to most of these countries rather than to the specific problems faced by individual countries (or regions). Likewise, the emphasis will be placed on the microeconomic underpinnings of widely observed macro-economic phenomena rather than on the experience of individual industries or sectors such as steel, textiles and shipbuilding. It is maintained that a focus exclusively on the problems of particular industrial sectors or regions, while invaluable to a proper appreciation of the impact of the recent economic difficulties, would not provide an adequate framework for the formulation of politics to manage the adjustment to surplus industrial capacity in a multilateral context. The contributions of other participants in this volume deal with the experience of individual countries and industries.
