Interwar pricefixing in naval shipbuilding

Miller, C. (2020) Interwar pricefixing in naval shipbuilding. Navy Records Society, 4 Oct.

Abstract

This article presents extracts from a price agreement between a group of shipbuilding firms during the 1930s. The downturn in naval orders starting 1922 with the Washington Treaty sent shockwaves through the armaments industry, starting with the collapse of the Coventry Ordnance Works in 1925, but eventually toppling industrial giants like Beardmore and Palmer's. How the industry reacted and adapted to this change is still understudied. The extracts presented represent one of the most novel, but also shocking, attempts to do so in the 1920s and 1930s: by fixing prices for Admiralty contracts through the formation of a cartel. By examining two cases from the years preceding rearmament, it shows both the costs and benefits of such a scheme to the British state.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Miller, Dr Christopher
• Authors: Miller, C.
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Economic and Social History
• Journal Name: Navy Records Society
• Publisher: Navy Records Society
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 The Navy Records Society
• First Published: First published in Navy Records Society 4 October 2020
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the publisher