This new edition of a text introducing industrial economies has been updated and expanded. An extra chapter covers developments since 1979 under a new Conservative regime. The topics covered in this chapter include the contemporary problems of deindustrialization; industrial and competetion policy; the public enterprise sector; and regional and urban policy with particular emphasis on the privatization programme. In addition the statistical material has been amended to take account of the theoretical developments and the empirical studies undertaken since the last edition.