ABSTRACT
Between 1974 and 1985, traditional manufacturing in Europe suffered a severe blow. During this period, the industries of steelmaking, textiles and shipbuilding cumulatively witnessed between one-third and four-fifths of their employment evaporate over the span of this decade in France, Germany and the UK. Since the United Kingdom had been the historic tip of the spear that was the Industrial revolution, not surprisingly it was the first country to undergo the decline of traditional manufacturing. In France, the Colbertist legacy had remained in place long after the departure of Louis XIV thanks to an extremely centralized state, until the first decentralization law in 1982. West Germany is often presented as a country bereft of industrial policy, such was the country's firm commitment to market dynamics. Western Europe suffered a massive loss of millions of jobs in traditional manufacturing. Faced with this dire situation, the two traditional tools used by European leaders, industrial policy and cartels, lost their efficiency.
