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Misremembering Weimar: Hyperinflation, the Great Depression, and German collective economic memory

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  • Lukas Haffert
  • Nils Redeker
  • Tobias Rommel

Abstract

The well‐known German aversion to inflation has attracted a lot of interest and is often attributed to a specific historical memory: Weimar. Yet we do not know much about why hyperinflation seems to overshadow the Great Depression in German collective economic memory. To answer this question, we study what exactly it is that Germans believe to remember about their past. Using original survey data, we show that many Germans do not distinguish between hyperinflation and the Great Depression, but see them as two dimensions of the same crisis. They conflate Weimar economic history into one big crisis, encompassing both rapidly rising prices and mass unemployment. Additionally, more educated and politically interested Germans are more likely to commit this fallacy. Our finding thus nuances ideational explanations for Germany's economic policy stance in the European Union.

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  • Lukas Haffert & Nils Redeker & Tobias Rommel, 2021. "Misremembering Weimar: Hyperinflation, the Great Depression, and German collective economic memory," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 664-686, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecopol:v:33:y:2021:i:3:p:664-686
    DOI: 10.1111/ecpo.12182
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    1. Barkhausen, David & Teupe, Sebastian, 2023. "The German inflation trauma: Weimar's policy lessons between persistence and reconstruction," Working Papers 40, German Research Foundation's Priority Programme 1859 "Experience and Expectation. Historical Foundations of Economic Behaviour", Humboldt University Berlin.
    2. Markus Demary & Timo Wollmershäuser & Gerit Vogt & Gertud R. Traud & Stefan Mütze & Thomas Mayer & Pascal Seiler & Lukas Haffert & Nils Redeker & Tobias Rommel, 2021. "Konsumstau, höhere Energiepreise, lockere Geldpolitik: Droht nach Corona die große Inflation?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 74(09), pages 03-26, September.
    3. Murau, Steffen, 2023. "Sovereign Debt Issuance and Transformation of the Monetary Architecture in Prussia and the German Empire, 1740-1914," Papers 274043, Dezernat Zukunft - Institute for Macrofinance, Berlin.
    4. Baccaro, Lucio & Bremer, Björn & Neimanns, Erik, 2023. "What growth strategies do citizens want? Evidence from a new survey," MPIfG Discussion Paper 23/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. Gregori Galofre-Vila, 2021. "The Costs of Hyperinflation: Germany 1923," Documentos de Trabajo - Lan Gaiak Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra 2101, Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra.

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