The expansion of international trade from the mid-19th century to the beginning of the twentieth century contributed to the equalization of the price of production factors on a global scale, which exerted different effects on the income and fortunes of labor, landlords and capitalists. During this period, France, Germany, and Italy were abundant in labor and scarce in land. Capital was also scarce for most of the time. As the owners of scarce factor, landlord aristocrats and capitalists in the three countries adopted protectionist policies through their control of state power, but they were not able to avoid the damage to their economic prowess and scale due to the expansion of world trade. As the owners of abundant factor, labor in these three countries grew significant with trade, and they accumulated more widespread political resources for their collective action. With the change of balance of power between different factor owners, labor embarked on political mobilization against land and capital in contentious as well as routine politics. The labor anti-establishment campaign began to rise.
|