Editing History of Scotland (section)

===Economic boom and stagnation===
[[File:Beardmore advertisement Brasseys 1923.jpg|thumb|right|upright|A 1923 advert for [[William Beardmore and Company]], Clydeside, who employed 40,000 workers at its height]]
A boom was created by the First World War, with the shipbuilding industry expanding by a third, but a serious depression hit the economy by 1922.<ref>N. K. Buxton, "Economic growth in Scotland between the Wars: the role of production structure and rationalization", ''Economic History Review'', Nov 1980, vol. 33 (4), pp. 538–555.</ref> The most skilled craftsmen were especially hard hit, because there were few alternative uses for their specialised skills.<ref>A. J. Robertson, "Clydeside revisited: A reconsideration of the Clyde shipbuilding industry 1919–1938" in W. H. Chaloner and B. M. Ratcliffe, eds., ''Trade and Transport: Essays in Economic History in Honour of T. S. Willan'' (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977), pp. 258–278.</ref> The main social indicators such as poor health, bad housing, and long-term mass unemployment, pointed to terminal social and economic stagnation at best, or even a downward spiral. The heavy dependence on obsolescent heavy industry and mining was a central problem, and no one offered workable solutions. The despair reflected what Finlay (1994) describes as a widespread sense of hopelessness that prepared local business and political leaders to accept a new orthodoxy of centralised government economic planning when it arrived during the Second World War.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Finlay |first=Richard J. |author-link=Richard J. Finlay |date=June 1994 |title=National identity in crisis: politicians, intellectuals and the 'end of Scotland', 1920–1939 |journal=History |volume=79 |issue=256 |pages=242–259 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1994.tb01598.x |jstor=24421097}}</ref>

A few industries did grow, such as chemicals and whisky, which developed a global market for premium "Scotch".<ref>B. Weir, ''The History of the Distillers Company, 1877–1939: Diversification and Growth in Whisky and Chemicals'' (1996).</ref> However, in general the Scottish economy stagnated leading to growing unemployment and political agitation among industrial workers.<ref name=Hearn2000p45/>