This important survey, first published in 1981, presents some different and often contending perceptions of the problem of surplus capacity as it re-emerged in the world of the 1980s – an economic climate with many parallels to the current era. Susan Strange and Roger Tooze deliberately assembled writers of many different nationalities, professional backgrounds and ideological convictions and asked them to make the case for their version of the problem. Some even doubt if there really is much of a problem at all. Others see it as fundamentally political, or monetary; as inherent in the capitalist system, or as the product of short-sighted pressure groups and perverse politicians. To help readers judge for themselves, there are specialist contributions on surplus capacity as it has shown up in different sectors of the world economy – shipbuilding, textiles, steel, petrochemicals, insurance and banking – and on the responses of different actors in the international system, including the European Community and multinational corporations.

Originally published in 1989. The international steel industry suffered a major decline after the onset of world recession in 1973, perhaps suffering more plant closures and job losses than any other sector. This book analyses the decline, surveying the various factors which have contributed to it, such as changing production strategies, changes in demand and world trade and changing regional production trends. It goes on to examine the impact of decline on steel-making communities, considering the various local, national and international initiatives to assist the affected areas and the way these initiatives have been devised and implemented. The authors conclude that none of these policies has satisfactorily resolved the crisis in the old steel producing areas and that a major crisis in these areas continues. Finally they discuss the social and political options open to these localities for the future.

BRI and International Production Capacity Cooperation: Industrial Layout conducts analysis on China’s advantageous surplus capacity of various industries and measures for optimizing their overseas layout with experience on production capacity cooperation of home and abroad, providing a wealth of information for a thorough understanding on relevant areas to domestic and foreign investors.