A gradual process of assimilation among sections of Hungarian Jewry was discernible as early as the 1840s. The Jews benefited from the numerous opportunities now open to them in commerce, industry, and finance—occupations that the aristocracy and the gentry considered beneath their dignity. In response to Jewish ability and enterprise, the Hungarian economy began to experience accelerated capitalist development during the second half of the 19th century. Rather than evoking resentment, Jewish prominence in industry and finance was initially viewed favorably. To a large extent, it was the Jewish role in the Hungarian economy that contributed to the country's modernization and its economic independence from Austria.

Technologically, Austria-Hungary became the world's third-largest manufacturer and exporter of electric home appliances, electric industrial appliances, and power generation apparatus for power plants, after the United States and the German Empire, and it constructed Europe's second-largest railway network after the German Empire. [1]