ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a number of endogenous factors such as the presence of human capital, the process of industrialisation and the importance of pre-existing economic institutions. All of these facilitated the growth of Leipzig fur industry. The chapter examines the role of the strong guilds in Saxony, which persisted well after the introduction of freedom of commerce in 1861. It explores the importance of inward mobility in terms of replenishing entrepreneurship in the expansive district. Fur manufacturing already constituted an essential part of the crafts industry in Leipzig in the middle Ages. While the expansion of local fur manufacturing remained connected to the realm of artisanship, industrialisation drastically changed the production process and introduced wage labour on a large scale into the fur industry. The first 'factories' in Leipzig to industrialise production process of furs were established from the 1870s onwards. Another key element of the fur business cluster in Leipzig was the easy and advantageous access to financial resources.
