World War I created a set of forces that affected the political arrangements and economies of all the countries involved. This period in global economic history between World War I and II offers rich material for studying international monetary and sovereign debt policies. Debt and Entanglements between the Wars focuses on the experiences of the United States, United Kingdom, four countries in the British Commonwealth (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Newfoundland), France, Italy, Germany, and Japan, offering unique insights into how political and economic interests influenced alliances, defaults, and the unwinding of debts. The narratives presented show how the absence of effective international collaboration and resolution mechanisms inflicted damage on the global economy, with disastrous consequences.
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.
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.
The First and Second World Wars, the great depression, oil shocks, inflation, financial crises, stock market crashes, the collapse of the Soviet command economy and Third World disasters are discussed in this comprehensive book. The contributors subject these disasters to in-depth assessment, carefully considering their costs and impact on specific countries and regions, as well as assessing them in a global context. The book examines the legacy of economic disasters and asks whether economic disasters are avoidable or whether policymakers can learn from their mistakes.
Reflecting the diverse and profound changes triggered by the latest wave of economic globalization, this book highlights various governance responses at national, regional and global levels. The topics covered are wide-ranging and include economic history and development, European integration, exchange rate arrangements, industrial and labor economics, international cooperation and multilateralism, and public choice. The book is divided into three parts: The first part, which contains contributions by Barry Eichengreen and Marc Flandreau, is devoted to economic history. The second part examines open economy macroeconomics with a focus on Europe, including contributions by Jurgen von Hagen and Paul Krugman. The third part presents contributions to international political economy, and related interdisciplinary topics. This Festschrift is written in honor of Jorge Braga de Macedo, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Nova School of Business and Economics and a distinguished Portuguese academic whose work has an impressive global reach. The contributions, written by a selection of international authors, deal with his oeuvre covering the wide range of topics broached in this book, as his publication record amply attests.
The financial crisis of 2008 aroused widespread interest in banking and financial history. In an attempt to better understand the magnitude of the shock, there was a demand for historical parallels. This volume provides the material for such a reflection by presenting the state of the art in banking and financial history. Contributions to this volume analyse banking and financial history in a long-term comparative perspective. Lessons drawn from these analyses may well help future generations of policy makers avoid a repeat of the financial turbulence that erupted in 2008.
This is a comparative examination of financial institutions in the inter-war period of the UK, US, Germany, France and Japan. In this latest addition to the prestigious FUJI Business History Series, the contributors to the volume analyze the ways in which different institutions coped with the financial crises at this time, and how they competed with each other. They also ask how this affected the financial climates of the countries in question. The discussion is divided into three parts: commercial banking, universal banking and insurance and securities.
What role have the financial elites in European societies and markets played over time? What was their contribution to the recent financial collapse, and how does this compare to previous crises? How have financial elites adjusted to, or influenced, the evolution of the financial system's regulatory framework over time? Financial Elites and European Banking: Historical Perspectives is a collection of essays dedicated to the European financial elites and the current debate on the role of experts within society. The ambiguities of the globalized economy over the last thirty years, epitomized by growing levels of inequality, have generated a feeling of distrust towards experts. Financial elites have become one of the most scrutinized targets of negative public opinion, triggered by the financial crisis, the high compensations enjoyed both before and after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and the obscure nature of their activity. Financial Elites in European Banking presents historical comparisons and country and cross-country case studies on financial elites' adaption and contribution to the transformation of regulatory and cultural context in the wake of a crisis.
