BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Blissfully Ignorant: The Rôle of State Financial and Managerial A
 ssistance in the Decline of the British Shipbuilding Industry\, 1945-1980 
 - Dr Duncan Connors\, Glasgow
DTSTART:20101108T170000Z
DTEND:20101108T190000Z
UID:TALK26133@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:D'Maris Coffman
DESCRIPTION:The economic history of British shipbuilding after 1945 has te
 ndency to lament and eulogise a lost industry\, attributing blame along th
 e way to whatever institution is considered guilty for the crime of allowi
 ng so many shipyards to close. This paper\, however\, will present a factu
 al and objective picture of the relative and absolute decline of British s
 hipbuilding and by utilising contemporary financial and economic data will
  demonstrate that the demise of the industry was not caused by foreign com
 petition\, but rather by the parochial world view of management\, labour a
 nd government that limited the ability of shipbuilding companies in the Un
 ited Kingdom to take advantage of market conditions in the 1960s and 70s. 
 \n\nIndeed\, this paper will conclusively demonstrate that shipbuilding in
  the United Kingdom actually declined when the demand for newly constructe
 d vessels was rising exponentially and demand was outstripping supply. It 
 will also demonstrate that during the 1960s the demand for vessels was hea
 vily influenced by the demand for crude oil in industrialised and industri
 alising nations and as a result large crude oil carriers\, the so called 
 ‘supertankers’\, were financed by speculative arrangements set up by m
 erchant banks in the City of London. Finally\, this paper will show that t
 hese economic trends were highly apparent\, not only in their genesis duri
 ng the late 1950s but also during the entire 1960s and early 1970s and wer
 e systematically ignored\, underrated or indeed berated by decision makers
  involved in the British shipbuilding industry. In short\, this paper is n
 ot about lamentation\, nor is it a eulogy\, it is an accurate and factual 
 critique of the decisions made in the 1960s that condemned shipbuilding in
  the United Kingdom to an early grave at a time when it should have been t
 hriving in favourable market conditions.
LOCATION:Sidgwick Hall (or Old Dining Room)\, Newnham College
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR