Gertrude Enderle-Burcel, Dieter Stiefel, Alice Teichova (Hrsg.): Sonderband 9. „Zarte Bande” – Österreich und die europäischen planwirtschaftlichen Länder / „Delicate Relationships” – Austria and Europe’s Planned Economies (2006)
Damir Jelic: “Living in the neighbourhood” - Economic Relations between Capitalist Austria and Socialist Croatia in Historical Perspective
Austrian big business in Croatia. And on the other hand, Croatia was too far away from having medium-scale enterprises in order to being able to expand their business sector in this direction. From the Austrian administration’s view, Zagreb, the areas along the military border and some Croatian provincial towns were places where one could get position if have not succeeded in “better places”. Austrian business circles shared a similar view. There were enough business opportunities in more developed or more economically active parts of the Monarchy. Such a situation was fruitful for the development of domestic, Croatian economic elite. During the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century, economic development occurred in Croatia based on both the market penetration by Hungarian and Austrian capital and the formation of a domestic elite, in which “Croatised” Jews played an important role. However, domestic economic elites were not able to recruit more skilled entrepreneurs, thus an oversupply was not created in Croatia as it had happened in Bohemia. The relative economic autonomy of Croatia and its relationship with Vienna becomes clear when comparing major banks and their networks in Austria and Croatia. Living in the neighbourhood” Relatively independent Croatia in the Austro-Hungarian banking sector The financial matters of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy were concentrated in three metropoles: Vienna, Budapest and Prague. Vienna was the main financial centre of the whole Eastern Europe, Budapest was the centre for financing agriculture and big landowners, and Prague was the centre for financing industry. These three cities had an important administrative function and were centres where trade and financial flows of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including its neighbouring territory, were concentrated. The most important banks of the Austro- Hungarian Monarchy were based in one of these cities. The economic strength of Vienna, Budapest and Prague and their big banks dominated this part of Europe by means of networks of branches, affiliated institutes, industrial enterprises they owned, credit policies towards smaller institutes and many other invisible financial operations. As a centre of the Monarchy, Vienna’s geographically strategic position became quite clear when looking at its financial network. Especially the network of commercial banks in Vienna tried to take over the main commercial flows of Cisleithenia - and they certainly did not stop at geographical boundaries. Vienna banks did not only cover Austria but they were everywhere in Cisleithenia, wherever there was a business activity going on. All regions of Silesia and Moravia, as well as some mountainous regions of Bohemia, were well covered by branches of Vienna banks. In addition, all main regional and commercial centres of Galicia were under the control of these branches and their agencies. A few major centres in 249
