Banking Currency And Finance In Europe Between The Wars

The financial history of interwar Europe was dominated by catastrophic episodes of hyper-inflation, dramatic exchange rate crises, massive and destabilizing movements of gold and capital, and extensive banking failures. In their attempt to restore and sustain the gold standard as the basis of the international monetary system, many countries were compelled to resort to deflationary fiscal and monetary policies of exceptional severity. The policies thus adopted in the 1920s were a major cause of the Great Depression of 1929-33; and this in turn exerted a powerful influence on the subsequent political and economic history of the 1930s. This collection of essays is the work of an international network of economic historians from Europe and the United States convened by the European Science Foundation. It brings together, in an accessible style, current knowledge and understanding of the nature and effects of these developments in banking, currency, and finance in the interwar period. The topics are examined at three levels. In Part I a substantial introductory survey of the central issues over the entire period is followed by special studies of the banking crises, the global capital flows, and the interrelationship of economic and political policies, with each of these themes considered in an international perspective. Part II is devoted to illuminating comparative analyses of the financial and exchange policies of pairs of countries; France and Italy, Britain and Germany, Sweden and Finland, and Belgium and France. In Part III the essays move to the level of individual countries and each contributor explores topics such as the form and efficacy of official banking and monetary policies, the role of the central bank, movements in the money supply and prices, the relationship between the banks and the industrial sector, changes in exchange rates and foreign capital investment. The volume covers all the major countries, and also makes available the results of recent research on banking and finance in smaller countries, such as Spain, Austria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Bulgaria, and Ireland. The questions addressed by this book, and the temes and patterns it reveals, are relevant both to economic and political historians of the years between the two world wars, and to those interested in contemporary banking and financial problems.

This is the first history of finance - broadly defined to include money, banking, capital markets, public and private finance, international transfers etc. - that covers Western Europe (with an occasional glance at the western hemisphere) and half a millennium. Charles Kindleberger highlights the development of financial institutions to meet emerging needs, and the similarities and contrasts in the handling of financial problems such as transferring resources from one country to another, stimulating investment, or financing war and cleaning up the resulting monetary mess. The first half of the book covers money, banking and finance from 1450 to 1913; the second deals in considerably finer detail with the twentieth century. This major work casts current issues in historical perspective and throws light on the fascinating, and far from orderly, evolution of financial institutions and the management of financial problems. Comprehensive, critical and cosmopolitan, this book is both an outstanding work of reference and essential reading for all those involved in the study and practice of finance, be they economic historians, financial experts, scholarly bankers or students of money and banking. This groundbreaking work was first published in 1984.

Charting developments in one of the most turbulent periods of economic history, this far reaching volume covers the problems facing the major economies of Europe in the inter-war years. It also discusses global economic policies and the crises for the world’s major currencies. Although it covers complex themes, the book is written in an accessible way even for the non-specialist.

This books explains, on the basis of archival evidence and a simple economic model, why and how the gold standard collapsed in the interwar period. It also reveals how bilateralism and dirigisme in international financial relations emerged from the collapse of the universal gold standard, and how this poisoned international relations.

This is a curated and comprehensive collection of the most important works covering matters related to national security, diplomacy, defense, war, strategy, and tactics. The collection spans centuries of thought and experience, and includes the latest analysis of international threats, both conventional and asymmetric. It also includes riveting first person accounts of historic battles and wars.Some of the books in this Series are reproductions of historical works preserved by some of the leading libraries in the world. As with any reproduction of a historical artifact, some of these books contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. We believe these books are essential to this collection and the study of war, and have therefore brought them back into print, despite these imperfections.We hope you enjoy the unmatched breadth and depth of this collection, from the historical to the just-published works.

Excerpt from French Public Finance: In the Great War and to-Day, With Chapters on Banking and Currency We publish this book knowing that every effort has been made to have the statements and figures contained in it accurate. The principal sources of information are listed at the back of the book. All of the statistical data used in the preparation of the tables has been obtained from official sources. The book was submitted in proof form, in whole or in part, to many distinguished financial and economic authorities in France, who gave the proofs critical reading, checked some of the tables, and contributed valuable assistance. This has enabled us to make in this volume the first complete comparative statement to be published of the public finance statistics of France for each of the years which have elapsed since the beginning of the war in 1914. Desiring to relieve these authorities from any implication of responsibility that the specific mention of their names might entail, we content ourselves with expressing generally our thanks for their help, corrections and suggestions. We will feel that we were justified in asking for the critical assistance which these distinguished French authorities have given so carefully, and that our purpose in publishing this book had been achieved, should it contribute to a more sympathetic understanding in this country of the financial problems that France had to solve during the war, and of the integrity, courage and resourcefulness with which she is meeting her problems of today. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The European Economy between the Wars, (OUP, 1997) has become the definitive economic history of Europe in the inter-war period. Placing the Great Depression of 1929-33 and the associated financial crisis at the center of the narrative, the authors comprehensively examined the lead-up to and consequences of the depression and recovery. The authors now expand their scope to include the entire world economy, and have created a new edition: The World Economy between the Wars. New material focuses on the structure of the world economy in the 1920s, including a special focus on the United States, Japan, and Latin America.