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A sustained decline in industrial (especially manufacturing) activity and capacity (cf. industrialization). It may involve the absolute and/or relative decline of industrial output, employment and means of production. Such changes are quite normal in the course of economic development. However, when they are linked to the declining competitiveness of industrial production to meet extra-regional, domestic and international demand within reasonable levels of employment and a sustainable balance of payments, deindustrialization represents a process of underdevelopment. The causes of deindustrialization are complex. In the contemporary global economy, they lie in a combination of local circumstance and locational adjustment to global conditions. In a capitalist economy, the rate of profit and its determinants must lie at the centre of any explanation. (RL)
Suggested Reading Bluestone, B. and Harrison, B. 1982: The deindustrialization of America. New York: Basic Books. Martin, R. and Rowthorn, B., eds, 1986: The geography of deindustrialization. Basingstoke: Macmillan. |
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