Like other European countries, in Germany also the slate played an important role in the growth of capitalism. State-owned factories were established which continued to operate under state control right upto the Second World War viz. Prussian and Saxon procelain factories.
In some of the German states the task of rail-road construction was also carried on by the state, while in others the major portion of the rail-road system was in private hands. Similarly, the federal states as municipalities took active part in the development of industries like iron works, mines etc. In addition to this a number of mixed-ownership companies were also founded, which were under the joint control of private capital and public authorities.
This type of organizations mainly looked after public utilities such as power plants, gas, water-works, municipal transport etc. In short, Germany possessed an economic system of mixed ownership. The slate also played a significant role in the banking operations. Apart from providing a central banking system, it provided a number of state banks which dominated the money market.