State corporatism and proto-industry focusses on the Wurttemberg Black Forest, where a dense, export-oriented worsted industry arose in the 1560s, and dominated the rural economy for the next 240 years. This is an example of what is known as 'proto-industry': the export-oriented rural manufacturing which became a distinctive feature of the European economy between 1500 and 1800. Proto-industry is often regarded as having broken down traditional society and prepared the way for factories and capitalism. Sheilagh Ogilvie shows that in Wurttemberg proto-industry did not break down traditional social constraints on economic and demographic behaviour. Until at least 1800, corporate institutions - communities, rural guilds, and merchant companies - exercised enormous power over the lives of ordinary individuals. Ogilvie argues that this early modern European economy - and many others - remained stagnant and poor because privileged social institutions constrained micro-level decisions.