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Divergent Paths, United States and France: Capital Markets, the State, and Differentiation in Transportation Systems, 1840–1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Abstract

Why do the United States and France, both capitalist economies that were dominated by private railways in the 19th and early 20th centuries, have very different transport systems today? After World War II France developed 200 mph high speed trains, while railways in the United States declined to near irrelevance. This paper argues that cross-national divergence was caused by private and public actions that structured capitalmarkets and controlled planning. In the United States private financial institutions used capital markets to shape rail development. In France, by way of contrast, the state directly intervened in financial markets and controlled planning. Both systems thrived until World War I. But, then, faced with growing competition from cars, buses and trucks and burdened by excessive debt, they declined towards bankruptcy. The Great Depression became a defining moment as a Socialist-dominated government in France nationalized railways while in the United States, President Roosevelt's New Deal failed to enact policies to ensure the competitive viability of rail in relation to motorized transport. Rarely used archival sources provide much of the evidence for this argument.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2009. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

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References

Bibliography of work cited

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Summers, H.B., and Summers, R.E. eds. The Railroad Problem: With Reference to Government Ownership. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1939.Google Scholar
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Wilner, F. Railroads and the Marketplace. Washington, DC: Association of American Railroads, 1987.Google Scholar
Zysman, J. Government, Markets and Growth: Financial Systems and the Politics of Industrial Change. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983.Google Scholar
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Dobbin, F. “Why the Economy Reflects the Polity: Early Rail Policy in Britain, France and the United States.” In The SociologyofEconomic Life, edited by Granovetter, M. and Boulder, Swedberg, R., CO: Westview Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Dougall, H. “Public and Private Operation of Railways in France.” Annals of the American AcademyofPolitical and Social Sciences (1939): 211–16.Google Scholar
Gueslin, A. “Banks and State in France from 1880’s to the 1930’s.” In Finance and Financiers in European History, edited by Cassis, Y., 6391. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Hansen, B. “The People’s Welfare and the Origins ofCorporate Reorganization: The Wabash Receivership Reconsidered.Business HistoryReview 74, no.3 (2000): 377405.Google Scholar
Hautcoeur, P. “Le Marche Boursier Et Le Financement Des Entreprises Fran-caises, 1890–1939.” In Recent Doctoral Research in Economic History. Madrid: Congres international d’histoire economique, 1994.Google Scholar
Hautcoeur, P., and Levratto, N.. “Bankruptcy Laws and Practice in Xixth Century France.Paris: Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique, 2006.Google Scholar
Hautcoeur, P., and Verley, P.. “Les Placements Des Companies Francaises D’assurances Sur La Vie, 1860–1939.” In L’assurance Dans Les Societes Industrielles, edited by Seville, C. Nunez, Spain: University of Seville, 1998.Google Scholar
Huebner, S. “The Distribution of Stockholdings in American Railways.Annals ofthe American AcademyofPolitical and Social Sciences 22 (1903): 6378.Google Scholar
Lescure, M. “De La Concurrence Des Secteurs Bancaires Publics Et Prives Dans La France De L’entre-Deux Guerres.” Paper presented at the Actes du cinquieme congres de l’association Francaise des historiens economistes 1983.Google Scholar
Lowenthal, M. “The Railroad Reorganization Act.Harvard Law Review 47 (1933): 1858.Google Scholar
Neymarck, A. “Les Chemineaux De L’epargne.Journal dela Societe de Statistiques de Paris 52, no. 4 (1911): 122–66.Google Scholar
O’Sullivan, M. “The Expansion of the U.S. Stock Market, 1885–1930: Historical Facts and Theoretical Fashions.Enterprise & Society (2007): 153.Google Scholar
Plessis, A. “Les Banques, Le Credit Et L’economie.” In L’etat Et Le Marche, edited by Levy-Leboyer, M. Paris: Gallimard, 1991.Google Scholar
Sclar, E. “Passenger Rail.” In The Limits of Market Organization, edited by Nelson, R.. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2005.Google Scholar
Sgard, J. “The Liberalisation of Bankruptcy Law in Europe, 1808–1914.” Paper presented at the Center for Economic Policy Research Conference, September 30, 2005. Vienna, Austria.Google Scholar
Thelen, K., and Steinmo, S. “Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics.” In Structuring Politics, edited by Steinmo, S.. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Warshow, H. “The Distribution of Corporate Ownership in the United States.Quarterly Journal of Economics 39, no. 1 (1924): 1538.Google Scholar
United States Bureau of Census. Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957, edited by Bureau of Census. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce. Long Term Debts ofthe United States, edited by Horton, D.. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1937.Google Scholar
Interstate Commerce Commission. Statistics ofRailways in the United States, edited by Bureau of Statistics, 153: Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1942.Google Scholar
Ministere des Travaux Publics. Statistique Des Chemins De Fer Francais.Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Monthly Reports. Washington, DC: Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1932–1940. Google Scholar
Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Quarterly Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1932.Google Scholar
Federal Coordinator of Transportation. Is There Need for a Radical or Major Change in the Organization, Conduct and Regulation of the Railroad Industry Which Can Be Accomplished by Federal Legislation, edited by Committee on Interstate Commerce. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934.Google Scholar
Pineaux, C. “Assurance Et Placement.” Doctoral thesis, University of Paris, 1938.Google Scholar
Banque de Paris et Pays-Bas Archives, Paris and Orleans.Google Scholar
Credit Lyonnais Archives, Paris.Google Scholar
Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees (ENPC) Archives, Marne-La-Vallee. Le Centre des Archives du Monde deTravail (CAMT), Roubaix. Google Scholar
SNCF Archives, Le Mans, France.Google Scholar
Societe Generale Archives, Paris.Google Scholar
U.S. National Archives II, College Park, Maryland, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Record Group 237.Google Scholar
American Bankers Association. Automotive Transportation and Railroads: A Study of Relationships. New York: American Bankers Association, 1927.Google Scholar
Bernheim, A., and Schneider, M., eds. The Security Markets. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1935.Google Scholar
Bonin, H. Les Banques Françaises De L’entre-Deux Guerres. Paris: Plage, 2000.Google Scholar
Bordo, M., ed. The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the 20th Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Campbell, E.G. The Reorganization of the American Railroad System, 1893–1900. New York: Columbia University Press, 1938.Google Scholar
Caron, F. Histoire Des Chemins DeFer En France: 1883–1937. Paris: Fayard, 2005.Google Scholar
Caron, F. Les Grandes Compagnies De Chemin De FerEn France, 1823–1937. Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2005.Google Scholar
Carosso, V. A History of Investment Banking in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Chandler, A. The Railroads-The Nation’s First Big Business. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1965.Google Scholar
Clay, C.M. What Shall We Do about the Railroads. Washington, DC: Ransdell, 1939.Google Scholar
Federation Francais des Societes d’Assurances (FFSA), Organisation des Societes. Annuaire des Societes d’Assurances. Paris: FFSA, 19221936.Google Scholar
Delorme, R., and , C.. L’etat Et L’economie. Paris: Seuil, 1983.Google Scholar
Dobbin, F. Forging Industrial Policy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Doukas, K. French Railroads and the State. New York: Columbia University Press, 1945.Google Scholar
Dunlavy, C. Politics and Industrialization: Early Railroads in the U.S. and Prussia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Edwards, G.W. The Evolution of Finance Capitalism. London: Longmans,Green and Company, 1938.Google Scholar
Foster, M. A Nationon Wheels. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2003.Google Scholar
Goddard, S. Getting There: The Epic Struggle between Road and Rail.New York: Basic Books, 1994.Google Scholar
Godfernaux, R. Apercu DeL’evolution Des Chemins DeFer Francais De 1878 A 1928. Paris: n.a., 1928.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, R. Financial Intermediaries in the American Economy since 1900. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1958.Google Scholar
Goodrich, C. Government Promotion of American Canals and Railroads, 1800–1890. New York: Columbia University Press, 1960.Google Scholar
Greenberg, D. Financiers and Railroads,1869–1889. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1980.Google Scholar
Hall, P. Governing the Economy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Hart, A. Debts and Recovery. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1938.Google Scholar
Jones, J. The Politics of Transport in Twentieth Century France. Montreal: Queens University Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Jones, J.H. FiftyBillion Dollars. New York: Macmillan, 1951.Google Scholar
Kimon, D. French Railroads and the State. New York: Columbia University Press, 1945.Google Scholar
Kotz, D. Bank Control of Large Corporations in the United States. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.Google Scholar
Latham, E. The Politics of Railroad Coordination. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959.Google Scholar
Lefebvre-Teillard, A. Les Sociétés Anonymes. Paris: Presse Universitaire Francais, 1985.Google Scholar
Marnata, F. La Bourse Et Le Financement Des Investissements. Paris: Armand Colin, 1973.Google Scholar
Martin, A. Enterprise Denied. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971.Google Scholar
Mertins, H. National Transportation Policyin Transition. Toronto: D. C. Heath 1972.Google Scholar
Moore, W. The Reorganization of Railroad Corporations. Washington, DC: American Council on Public Affairs, 1941.Google Scholar
Moreau-Néret, O. Les Valeurs Mobiliers, vol. 2. Paris: Sirey, 1939.Google Scholar
Moulton, H., ed. The American Transportation Problem. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1933.Google Scholar
Olson, J.S. Saving Capitalism: The Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the New Deal, 1933–1940. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Orren, K. Corporate Power and Social Change. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Picard, A. Les Chemins De Fer. Paris: Dunot and Pinat, 1918.Google Scholar
Rae, J. The Road and Carin American Life. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1971.Google Scholar
Rose, M., Seely, B., and Barrett, P.. The Best Transportation System in the World: Railroads, Trucks, Airlines and American Public Policy in the Twentieth Century. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Roy, W. Socializing Capital: The Rise ofthe Large Industrial Corporation in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Saunders, R. Merging Lines: American Railroads, 1900–1970. DeKalb: Northern Illinois Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Seltzer, L. A Financial History of the American Automobile Industry. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1928.Google Scholar
Skeel, D. Debt’s Dominion: A History of Bankruptcy Law in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Stover, J. American Railroads. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961.Google Scholar
Summers, H.B., and Summers, R.E. eds. The Railroad Problem: With Reference to Government Ownership. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1939.Google Scholar
Thompson, G. The Passenger Train in the Motor Age. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Wilner, F. Railroads and the Marketplace. Washington, DC: Association of American Railroads, 1987.Google Scholar
Zysman, J. Government, Markets and Growth: Financial Systems and the Politics of Industrial Change. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Denuc, J. “Dividends, Valeur Boursière Et Taux De Capitalisation Des Valeurs Mobilières Francaises De 1857 é 1932,Bulletin de la Statistique Générale de la France, 1932–1933. Paris: Librarie Felix Alcan.Google Scholar
Dessirier, J. “La Bourse Des Valuers.Revue d’Economie Politique 3 (1936): 716–61.Google Scholar
Dobbin, F. “Why the Economy Reflects the Polity: Early Rail Policy in Britain, France and the United States.” In The SociologyofEconomic Life, edited by Granovetter, M. and Boulder, Swedberg, R., CO: Westview Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Dougall, H. “Public and Private Operation of Railways in France.” Annals of the American AcademyofPolitical and Social Sciences (1939): 211–16.Google Scholar
Gueslin, A. “Banks and State in France from 1880’s to the 1930’s.” In Finance and Financiers in European History, edited by Cassis, Y., 6391. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Hansen, B. “The People’s Welfare and the Origins ofCorporate Reorganization: The Wabash Receivership Reconsidered.Business HistoryReview 74, no.3 (2000): 377405.Google Scholar
Hautcoeur, P. “Le Marche Boursier Et Le Financement Des Entreprises Fran-caises, 1890–1939.” In Recent Doctoral Research in Economic History. Madrid: Congres international d’histoire economique, 1994.Google Scholar
Hautcoeur, P., and Levratto, N.. “Bankruptcy Laws and Practice in Xixth Century France.Paris: Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique, 2006.Google Scholar
Hautcoeur, P., and Verley, P.. “Les Placements Des Companies Francaises D’assurances Sur La Vie, 1860–1939.” In L’assurance Dans Les Societes Industrielles, edited by Seville, C. Nunez, Spain: University of Seville, 1998.Google Scholar
Huebner, S. “The Distribution of Stockholdings in American Railways.Annals ofthe American AcademyofPolitical and Social Sciences 22 (1903): 6378.Google Scholar
Lescure, M. “De La Concurrence Des Secteurs Bancaires Publics Et Prives Dans La France De L’entre-Deux Guerres.” Paper presented at the Actes du cinquieme congres de l’association Francaise des historiens economistes 1983.Google Scholar
Lowenthal, M. “The Railroad Reorganization Act.Harvard Law Review 47 (1933): 1858.Google Scholar
Neymarck, A. “Les Chemineaux De L’epargne.Journal dela Societe de Statistiques de Paris 52, no. 4 (1911): 122–66.Google Scholar
O’Sullivan, M. “The Expansion of the U.S. Stock Market, 1885–1930: Historical Facts and Theoretical Fashions.Enterprise & Society (2007): 153.Google Scholar
Plessis, A. “Les Banques, Le Credit Et L’economie.” In L’etat Et Le Marche, edited by Levy-Leboyer, M. Paris: Gallimard, 1991.Google Scholar
Sclar, E. “Passenger Rail.” In The Limits of Market Organization, edited by Nelson, R.. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2005.Google Scholar
Sgard, J. “The Liberalisation of Bankruptcy Law in Europe, 1808–1914.” Paper presented at the Center for Economic Policy Research Conference, September 30, 2005. Vienna, Austria.Google Scholar
Thelen, K., and Steinmo, S. “Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics.” In Structuring Politics, edited by Steinmo, S.. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Warshow, H. “The Distribution of Corporate Ownership in the United States.Quarterly Journal of Economics 39, no. 1 (1924): 1538.Google Scholar
United States Bureau of Census. Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957, edited by Bureau of Census. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce. Long Term Debts ofthe United States, edited by Horton, D.. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1937.Google Scholar
Interstate Commerce Commission. Statistics ofRailways in the United States, edited by Bureau of Statistics, 153: Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1942.Google Scholar
Ministere des Travaux Publics. Statistique Des Chemins De Fer Francais.Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Monthly Reports. Washington, DC: Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1932–1940. Google Scholar
Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Quarterly Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1932.Google Scholar
Federal Coordinator of Transportation. Is There Need for a Radical or Major Change in the Organization, Conduct and Regulation of the Railroad Industry Which Can Be Accomplished by Federal Legislation, edited by Committee on Interstate Commerce. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934.Google Scholar
Pineaux, C. “Assurance Et Placement.” Doctoral thesis, University of Paris, 1938.Google Scholar
Banque de Paris et Pays-Bas Archives, Paris and Orleans.Google Scholar
Credit Lyonnais Archives, Paris.Google Scholar
Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees (ENPC) Archives, Marne-La-Vallee. Le Centre des Archives du Monde deTravail (CAMT), Roubaix. Google Scholar
SNCF Archives, Le Mans, France.Google Scholar
Societe Generale Archives, Paris.Google Scholar
U.S. National Archives II, College Park, Maryland, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Record Group 237.Google Scholar