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‘We can’t pay’: How Italy cancelled war debts after Lausanne

Author

Listed:
  • Marianna Astore

    (Bocconi University)

  • Michele Fratianni

    (Indiana University)

Abstract

"The paper deals with Italian inter-war debts, against the background of the very contentious international issue of war reparations that many Allied nations wanted to link to war debt repayments. While the bulk of the literature looks at the Lausanne conference of 1932 as an act of forgiveness of war debts, we show that Italy, having first achieved an extremely large haircut by restructuring US and UK debts in 1925-26, defaulted after Lausanne. We also present a new times series on Italian foreign debt from 1925 to 1934, a series that is consistent with the unfolding of relevant historical events."

Suggested Citation

  • Marianna Astore & Michele Fratianni, 2018. "‘We can’t pay’: How Italy cancelled war debts after Lausanne," Working Papers 18021, Economic History Society.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehs:wpaper:18021
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keynes, John Maynard, 1919. "The Economic Consequences of the Peace," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number keynes1919.
    2. Fratianni, Michele & Giri, Federico, 2017. "The tale of two great crises," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 5-31.
    3. Reinhart, Carmen & Trebesch, Christoph, 2014. "A Distant Mirror of Debt, Default, and Relief," CEPR Discussion Papers 10195, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Carmen M. Reinhart & Christoph Trebesch, 2016. "Sovereign Debt Relief and Its Aftermath," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 215-251.
    5. Eichengreen, Barry, 1996. "Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-1939," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195101133.
    6. Michele Fratianni & John Pattison, 2001. "Review Essay: The Bank for International Settlements: An Assessment of its Role in International Monetary and Financial Policy Coordination," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 197-222, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Italy; foreign debt; debt restructuring; default;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N94 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: 1913-

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