‘Dancing on a Volcano’: The Economic Recovery and Collapse of Weimar Germany, 1924–33

Albrecht Ritschl

Chapter 5 in The World Economy and National Economies in the Interwar Slump, 2003, pp 105-142 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In late 1928, the Agent-General for Reparations, Parker Gilbert, had a conversation with Gustav Stresemann on the reasons for the country’s regained prosperity and its further outlook. Germany had witnessed a spectacular recovery from its postwar muddles: the hyperinflation was over and the gold standard restored, democracy had stabilized, reparation payments proceeded in an orderly manner, and the French were retreating from one occupation zone after another. The international confrontation of the early 1920s seemed a thing of the past, and a certain degree of political cooperation and détente had established itself. Germany enjoyed the fruits of restored international confidence, and more and more international capital flowed into the country. German bonds sold well in foreign markets, and US direct investors flocked into the country to spot profitable investment opportunities. It was in those pre-Depression years when companies like General Motors, Ford, and General Electric arrived in Germany. In a matter of only a few years, the German way of life would become a perfect imitation of the American one: motorization and the electrification of private households were just around the corner. So at least it seemed.

Keywords: Interest Rate; Monetary Policy; Fiscal Policy; Great Depression; Money Demand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-53668-5_5

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230536685

DOI: 10.1057/9780230536685_5

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().