A Study Of Mechanism And Impacts Of The De-industrialization

After the “golden period” of Post-war growth, western developed countriesgenerally have been experiencing the increasing importance of services industries, incontrast, the declining importance of industry, especially manufacturing, that is,de-industrialization process. In Kaldor’s opinion, this phenomenon is one the mostsignificant “stylized facts” of the economic development of the post-war period.Mid-20th century, social scientists are beginning to predict the arrival of theindustrial society, in this social formation, the economy is mainly around the serviceactivities, rather than physical production activities. Since then, thede-industrialization of the economy gradually attracted attention, and graduallyentered the academic field of vision.However, the mainstream view think that, the process of economicde-industrialization is the inevitable trend of economic development, is the inevitableperformance of “high-class” of economic or industrial structure, is a positive senseof the economic evolution. Therefore, the de-industrialization is mainly driven by theinternal forces of economy, such as the relative improvement of the manufacturinglabor productivity and consumer demand structural changes. However, the historicalpractice of capitalist economic development, especially the2008financial crisis andthe sovereign debt crisis, raised questions and challenges to this view.In addition, itis equally important, this view can not explain the emergence of prematurede-industrialization in many developing countries and regions, on the interpretationof premature de-industrialization, such as economic policy and other exogenousreasons, are at most playing a secondary or auxiliary role for this type ofde-industrialization process.Obviously, there must be some other, more deep-seated reasons explain theprocess of de-industrialization. These underlying reasons can not only explain theprocess of de-industrialization of the developed countries, but also can explain theprocess of premature de-industrialization of the developing countries and regions. The quest of mechanisms and roots of the de-industrialization，is not only thedemands of economic practice, but also charm of theoretical exploration. This iswhat this thesis will to do.Industry, in particular the manufacturing of which is the core and foundation ofeconomic growth and running. This principle is applicable to any period ofcapitalism. The economic de-industrialization of the countries which have thisphenomenon, loss the foundation of economic performance and growth, as well aswealth creation and the main body of the sources of value. This is the result of thecapital profitability crisis between1965and1973, and the long-term stagnation andatrophy of the world economy of Capitalism since1973. Further said that thestagnation and atrophy of the real economy derived from the systematic excess of thecapitalist production and the resulting declining margins, while the systematic excessof production is the inevitable product of the capitalist system, which originatedfrom the basic contradictions of the capitalism. Therefore, the de-industrialization ofthe economy is the inevitable product of the capitalist system.This thesis is based on existing research, to build the analytical framework usedto explain the de-industrialization in the form of Marxism. This analyticalframework is built around the profit-driven nature of capital, it will not only containthe traditional interpretation of de-industrialization, but also to further explore thede-industrialization of the deeper root causes——Since the1970s, theoverproduction of the global manufacturing and the resulting profit margins decline,and then the stagnation and atrophy of the real economy. This is one of the maininnovation of this thesis. Combing the historical development of capitalist economicpractice, this thesis usefully investigates the impact of de-industrialization. Theseeffects from economic growth to the current account imbalances, and thenover-expansion of the virtual economy, the financial crisis of2008, the Sovereigndebt crises, Etc. In addition, on the basis of analyzing the mechanism ofde-industrialization, this thesis analyzes the economic “re-industrialization” Whethercan achieve success or not. This analysis applies not only to “re-industrialization”strategy in the United States in the1980s, but also applies to the“re-industrialization” that raised again by Europe and the United States and other developed countries since the crisis broke out in2008.Finally, this thesis analyze thepossibility of de-industrialization in the Chinese economy, and put forward relevantsuggestions.Main content of the theis are as follows:Chapter Ⅰ is an introduction part. This chapter introduces the researchbackground, the significance, the problem proposed, the research method and themain content, and the innovative points and Shortcomings.Chapter Ⅱ is the meaning and significance of industrialization. This chapterbriefly reviews some of the issues related to industrialization, including connotationand signs of industrialization, the relationship between industrialization andmodernization, the nature and significance of industrialization.Chapter Ⅲ is the meaning and performance of the de-industrialization. Thischapter focuses on different connotations of the de-industrialization, comb adifferent understanding of the phenomenon of de-industrialization (both positive andnegative de-industrialization), summarizes the economic and social impact ofde-industrialization.Chapter Ⅳ is the mechanism of de-industrialization. First of all, the chapterexplores the essence of de-industrialization, and based on a brief analysis on thedifferent causes of de-industrialization, constructs an analytical framework toexplain the mechanism of de-industrialization. Second, the chapter analyzes thefundamental motivation of the de-industrialization, explores the root causes of thesystem of de-industrialization; Third, the chapter analyzes the empirical analysis ofthe effect of long-term stagnation of the capitalist world economy onde-industrialization. This section gives the causes of the profitability crisis andlong-term stagnation and its impact on the de-industrialization; Fourth, the chapteranalyzes the way or manner of realization of the de-industrialization under theprofit-driven nature of Capital, including the impacts of foreign direct investment aswell as the “Dutch disease” and inappropriate economic policies on thede-industrialization.Chapter Ⅴ is the international comparison of de-industrialization. In the case ofthe United States, Britain, Brazil and Colombia, this chapter give a comparative analysis of different types of de-industrialization, in order to deepen ourunderstanding of the problem of de-industrialization. Among them, the UnitedKingdom and the United States are the representative of the typicalde-industrialization, while Brazil and Colombia are the typical representative of thepremature de-industrialization.Chapter Ⅵ is the relationship between the de-industrialization and the end ofcapitalist prosperity. This chapter is around four aspects to discuss. First of all, theimpact of de-industrialization on economic development, including the impact ofde-industrialization on economic growth, the imbalance of international payments aswell as the country’s competitiveness; Second, the relationship between thede-industrialization and capitalism long-term stagnation; Third, the relationshipbetween industrialization and the2008financial crisis; Fourth, the impact ofde-industrialization on the sovereign debt crisis.Chapter Ⅶ is the re-industrialization and its exploration. This chapter gives thebackground and content of the re-industrialization proposed, summarizes thethinking and specific paths of the re-industrialization, and based on the aboveanalysis, reflects on the traditional economic and industrial evolution model, answerswhy re-industrializes the economy, and Whether the re-industrialization can achievesuccess or not.Chapter Ⅷ is a possibility of de-industrialization in the Chinese economy andits countermeasures.The chapter first reviews the development of China’s industrialeconomy, and measures the level China’s industrialization; Second, this chaptersummarizes the existing problems and countermeasures of China’s industrialdevelopment, and reflects on the existing problems, its countermeasures, and currentpopular views of evolution of Chinese industrial structure; Third, the thesis focuseson the possibility and reality of the de-industrialization of China’s economic; Fourth,the policy recommendations on how to avoid the de-industrialization of the Chineseeconomy.