PhD thesis defence by Brecht Rogissart
This thesis explores the trajectory of Belgian capitalism and its finance-industry nexus during the first global economy (1850-1914). I trace a shift in finance’s services from financing through shares and bonds during the early industrialisation period (1830-1870) to financing through short-term credit via current accounts (1870-1914). I use Belgian banks’ balance sheets, investment portfolios, stock market data, and sources on current accounts to map this shift in ties between domestic finance and industry.
I contextualise these shifts in the Belgian finance-industry nexus within the development of the first global economy. I argue that globalisation created a new terrain of action for both industry and finance, which altered their entanglement. In doing so, I bring a new perspective to an often-invoked idea in Belgian historiography, which I label the notion of a persistently strong finance-industry nexus. This notion posits that the relationship between domestic finance and industry did not fundamentally change during the first global economy. In this thesis, I re-examine this idea through the lens of globalisation.
The globalisation of Belgian capitalism is further explored in a comparative framework with Britain and Germany, providing an instructive view onto the particular trajectory of Belgian finance and industry. I study the financial and industrial development of the three countries by comparing industrial growth and trade patterns, the relative importance of capital export, and its destinations. This approach locates Belgian industrial and financial growth between two different trajectories: Britain’s role as the global market’s central financier, and Germany’s experience as an industrialising ‘catch-up’ nation. I depict Belgian finance as growing mostly through increasing global entanglements, while domestic industry specialised in response to the competitive pressures of globalisation.
Finally, I zoom in to examine diversification internal to the Belgian case-study through a regional comparison of the different trajectories of finance in merchant Antwerp and industrial Brussels over this same period. Additionally, I explore the changing role of finance in its relationship to the (colonial) state. These complementary analyses illuminate important differences in the ties of finance to their (local) clients, concluding that finance’s trajectory depends largely on the needs of its clients.
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