Transportation Technology Determined By Industrial Production

How does Industrial Production Affect Transportation Technology?

The form and availability of transportation technology is also subject to industrial production. In Europe, the mechanization in the automobile industry greatly affected the cost of automobiles and the role of that industry in transportation policy. Craft traditions and strong skilled-labor unions in European auto industries slowed implementation of the assembly line and thereby delayed private motorization. As a result, mass production and mechanization of the labor process in pre-Depression Europe was postponed. Combined with industrial and financial interests inhibiting motorization, this impeded the proliferation of automobiles in Europe (Klapper, 1910; Pflug, 1929; cited in Yago, 1983).

In the United States, on the other hand, supporting industries for motorization - such as petroleum and rubber - emerged along with the automobile industry to become the largest and most concentrated industries in the country. This industry growth, coupled with the previously described economic concentration, provided a powerful base for financing, economic expansion and diversification, and stimulation of consumer demand - all of which promoted the rise of the automobile sector and its related industries (Bunting, 1972; Edwards, 1966; Chandler, 1966; White, 1971).