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Europe's Great Depression: coordination failure after the First World War

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  • Nikolaus Wolf

Abstract

In this paper I survey and reinterpret the extensive literature on Europe's Great Depression. I argue that Europe could not exploit its vast economic potential after 1918, because the war had not yet come to an end--indeed, it did not end before 1945. Both domestic and international institutions suffered from a lack of reciprocal trust and commitment, which can be clearly illustrated in the realm of monetary policy, but affected many other areas of policy-making, such as energy or migration policies. These institutions in turn affected expectations and thereby the extent to which, for example, expansionary policies could be effective. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.

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  • Nikolaus Wolf, 2010. "Europe's Great Depression: coordination failure after the First World War," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(3), pages 339-369, Autumn.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:26:y:2010:i:3:p:339-369
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oxrep/grq022
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    Cited by:

    1. Hartwell, Christopher A., 2019. "Short waves in Hungary, 1923 and 1946: Persistence, chaos, and (lack of) control," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 532-550.
    2. Flores Zendejas, Juan, 2017. "Averting defaults in turbulent times: controversies over the League of Nations preferred creditor status," Working Papers unige:98451, University of Geneva, Paul Bairoch Institute of Economic History.
    3. Esteves, Rui & Eichengreen, Barry, 2019. "The Trials of the Trilemma: International Finance 1870-2017," CEPR Discussion Papers 13465, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Albers, Thilo & Uebele, Martin, 2015. "The global impact of the great depression," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64491, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Nicholas Crafts & Peter Fearon, 2010. "Lessons from the 1930s Great Depression," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(3), pages 285-317, Autumn.
    6. Barry Eichengreen, 2013. "International Policy Coordination: The Long View," NBER Chapters, in: Globalization in an Age of Crisis: Multilateral Economic Cooperation in the Twenty-First Century, pages 43-82, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General
    • F50 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - General
    • N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-

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