Weimar's investment and growth record in intertemporal and international perspective

Mark Spoerer

European Review of Economic History, 1997, vol. 1, issue 3, 271-297

Abstract: For fifteen years economic historians have discussed whether the German economy suffered from a ‘crisis before the crisis’ during 1925–29, and if so, why. Apart from wages, the most widely debated issue is Weimar's investment record. The contributions so far have relied on the database of Walther Hoffmann which allows a comparison of Weimar's net investment and net product with the pre-World War I period. In this paper, alternative time series for gross fixed investment and gross national product are compiled for the period 1901–32. These data confirm Weimar's poor overall economic growth. However, it appears that Weimar's aggregate investment ratio was quite ‘normal’, if compared both intertemporally with the late Empire and internationally with other major economies in the 1920s. It is argued that further discussion of Weimar's investment record should focus on the productivity of private and especially of public investment rather than on its aggregate level.

Date: 1997
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