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Making the French pay: The costs and consequences of the Napoleonic reparations

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  • WHITE, EUGENE N.

Abstract

Reparations as an instrument of international peace settlements were abandoned after the failure of Germany to pay its post-World War I indemnity. However, reparations played a useful role in the construction of earlier peace treaties. This article examines the payment of reparations by the French after the Napoleonic Wars. By most measures, these reparations were the largest ever fully paid; and they imposed a high cost on the economy in terms of lost output, consumption, and diminished capital stock. The incentives to pay were appropriately set and payment permitted France to be accepted once again as an equal among the great powers.

Suggested Citation

  • White, Eugene N., 2001. "Making the French pay: The costs and consequences of the Napoleonic reparations," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 337-365, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:ereveh:v:5:y:2001:i:03:p:337-365_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Kim Oosterlinck & Loredana Ureche-Rangau & Jacques-Marie Vaslin, 2013. "Waterloo: a Godsend for French Public Finances?," Working Papers 0041, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    2. Guinnane, Timothy W., 2004. "Financial Vergangenheitsbewaltigung: The 1953 London Debt Agreement," Center Discussion Papers 28387, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    3. Vincent Bignon & Pierre Sicsic, 2022. "Quelles leçons de l’histoire ? ou comment faire face aux fortes augmentations de dette publique ?," Revue d'économie financière, Association d'économie financière, vol. 0(2), pages 41-66.
    4. Ritschl, Albrecht & Straumann, Tobias, 2009. "Business cycles and economic policy, 1914-1945: a survey," Economic History Working Papers 22402, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    5. Devereux, Michael B. & Smith, Gregor W., 2007. "Transfer problem dynamics: Macroeconomics of the Franco-Prussian war indemnity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(8), pages 2375-2398, November.
    6. François Crouzet, 2003. "The historiography of French economic growth in the nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 56(2), pages 215-242, May.
    7. Angelo Riva & Eugene N. White, 2010. "Danger on the Exchange: How Counterparty Risk Was Managed on the Paris Bourse in the Nineteenth Century," NBER Working Papers 15634, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Mark Harrison, 2016. "Myths of the Great War," Studies in Economic History, in: Jari Eloranta & Eric Golson & Andrei Markevich & Nikolaus Wolf (ed.), Economic History of Warfare and State Formation, pages 135-158, Springer.
    9. Jonna M. Yarrington, 2018. "Sucre indigène and sucre colonial: Reconsidering the splitting of the French national sugar market, 1800–1860," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 20-31, January.
    10. Riva, Angelo & White, Eugene N., 2011. "Danger on the exchange: How counterparty risk was managed on the Paris exchange in the nineteenth century," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 478-493.
    11. P.Antipa, 2014. "How Fiscal Policy Affects the Price Level: Britain’s First Experience with Paper Money," Working papers 525, Banque de France.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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