Industrial fortunes were not all built on a single bank loan. Industrialization drew on a mix of family capital, partnerships, commercial credit and financial institutions rather than one universal source.
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Capital needs differed sharply across textile production, mining, transport and other sectors. A textile mill and a railway faced very different funding problems.
Banking institutions evolved alongside industry, so a single national story can conceal regional variation. Regional differences make sweeping theories of industrial finance slippery.
The failures we know least about may be just as informative as the winners. Successful firms may leave better records than failed experiments, distorting our impression of how ordinary enterprises obtained funds.
Which sector and period best tests whether banks were leaders or followers of industrial change?