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Europe?s Great Depression: Coordination Failure after the First World War

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  • Wolf, Nikolaus

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to survey and re-interpret the extensive literature that tried to explain both the depth of the great depression in Europe and the delay of recovery as a failure to coordinate economic policies. Europe could not exploit her 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 policymaking, 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.

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  • Wolf, Nikolaus, 2010. "Europe?s Great Depression: Coordination Failure after the First World War," CEPR Discussion Papers 7957, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7957
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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. 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.
    4. Esteves, Rui & Eichengreen, Barry, 2019. "The Trials of the Trilemma: International Finance 1870-2017," CEPR Discussion Papers 13465, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. 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.
    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

    Keywords

    Europe; Great depression;

    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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