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Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2009

Mark Harrison
Affiliation:
University of Warwick
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Summary

The purpose of this book is to provide a new comparative evaluation of the wartime economic experience of six great powers: the UK, USA, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the USSR. It asks: what contribution did economics make to these countries' war preparedness, and to winning and losing the war? What was the effect of wartime experience on the postwar fortunes of the great powers? It aims to provide a text for students of international and comparative economic history, the history of World War II, the history of economic policy, and comparative economic systems, and a work of reference for scholars engaged in research in these fields.

The scope of each chapter includes each country's economic war potential, military-economic performance, war expenditures and losses, and the long-run impact of World War II on each country's economy. Each country's prewar size and development level, economic system characteristics, and military-economic policy are considered in relation to the part they played in the war effort of their respective coalitions, and in the outcome of the war as a whole. Existing interpretations of wartime economic performance are reviewed and revised: what does the wartime experience tell us about the capacity and durability of different economic systems, the effectiveness of regulation by quantities versus prices, the social and economic limits on resource mobilization, the policy and practice of rearmament ‘in width’ or ‘in depth’, and the role of foreign resource transfers? Hypotheses about whether the war helped to remove or entrench institutions hindering long-run economic development are also reappraised.

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The Economics of World War II
Six Great Powers in International Comparison
, pp. xvii - xx
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1998

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  • Preface
  • Edited by Mark Harrison, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Economics of World War II
  • Online publication: 12 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511523632.001
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  • Preface
  • Edited by Mark Harrison, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Economics of World War II
  • Online publication: 12 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511523632.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Edited by Mark Harrison, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Economics of World War II
  • Online publication: 12 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511523632.001
Available formats
×