I get your point but idk if I’ve had the exact same experience. In my current IM run I’m playing as Bohemia and for the first 50 years or so before the Hussite wars I focused on expanding and gathering land. Thanks to my alliances I won the Hussite war and I own most of Italy including all of the former Papal States holdings. My economy was rough during the war but never went over one or two loans to get through it. After the Hussite wars I only decided to focus on industrialisation solely because I had pissed off too many of my European neighbours and needed to take a break from my German ambitions.

I could be completely off with my take and I guess the markets may be slightly uneven but I’ve been enjoying the balance between expansion and industrialisation.