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The Consequences of the Currency Reform in Western Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Heinz Sauermann
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Extract

Following military collapse both in 1918 and in 1945 Germany presented two economic phenomena indicative of the destruction of economic life. In the twenties an open inflation occurred. For a relatively short time German money lost its value and purchasing power. This period of a completely open inflation was limited by a currency reform of a particular kind. Instead of cancelling the money in circulation the volume of money was increased by introducing a new stable money, the so-called Rentenmark. At the same time, the old money in circulation had been devaluated at the rate of one billionth of its face value. This controlled monetary experiment as well as the preceding huge inflation have found a place in the history of money. On account of the undoubted success of the devaluation experiment in 1923, the opinion seems to prevail that a devaluation is the best, if not the only way to reform the currency.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , April 1950 , pp. 175 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1950

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References

1 Cf. Bresciani-Turroni, Constantino: The Economics of Inflation, a Study of Currency Depreciation in Postwar Germany (London, 1937).Google Scholar

2 Cf. Donner, Otto, “Grenzen der Staatsverschuldung,” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Vol. 56, p. 183 f. (Jena, 1942).Google Scholar

3 Cf. Gerloff, Wilhelm, Die öffentliche Finanz, esp. the chapter on the public credit (Frankfurt, 1943).Google Scholar

4 Cf. Eucken, Walter and Meyer, Fritz F., “The Economic Situation in Germany,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Nov. 1948, p. 60.Google Scholar

5 I am indebted to Dr. Gerhard Colm, Council of Economic Advisors, for the discussion in the summer of 1949 from which the main concept of the difference between a currency reform as a measure of economic policy and a technical experiment was derived.

6 Cf. Heller, Walter W., “Tax and Monetary Reform in Occupied Germany,” National Tax Journal, 1949, p. 277.Google Scholar

7 The Homburg plan was published in December 1948 by the German Administration Authorities.

8 Among the references which may be consulted are Lutz, F. A., “The German Currency Reform and the Revival of the German Economy,” Economica, 1949, pp. 122–142;Google ScholarKlopstock, Fred H., “Monetary Reform in Western Germany,” Journal of Political Economy, 1949, pp. 277–299;CrossRefGoogle ScholarMendershausen, Horst, “Prices, Money and Distribution of Goods in Postwar Germany,” American Economic Review, 1949, pp. 646–672;Google ScholarHeller, Walter W., “Tax and Monetary Reform in Occupied Germany,” National Tax Journal, 1949, pp. 215–231.Google Scholar

9 Economic Cooperation Administration, Fifth Report to the Congress (Washington, 1949), p. 18.Google Scholar

10 Economic Cooperation Administration, European Recovery Program (Washington, 1949), p. 3 f.Google Scholar

11 Cf. Monatsberichte der Bank Deutscher Länder, October, 1949, p. 73.Google Scholar

12 Cf. Siebrecht, Valentin, “Woher die Arbeitslosigkeit,” Wirtschvfts Zeitung, July 16, 1949.Google Scholar

13 For these and the following figures see Monatsberichte der Bank Deutscher Länder, September-December 1948.Google Scholar

14 Cf. Lutz, F. A., “The German Currency Reform and the Revival of the German Economy,” Economics, XVI, 1949, pp. 122–142,Google Scholar and Klopstock, Fred H., “Monetary Reform in Western Germany,” Journal of Political Economy, LVII, 1949, pp. 279–292.Google Scholar

15 Cf. Lutz, F. A., op. cit.Google Scholar

16 Monatsberichte der Bank Deutscher Länder, October, 1949, p. 75.Google Scholar

17 Cf. Heller, Walter W., “Tax and Monetary Reform in Occupied Germany,” National Tax Journal II, 1949, p. 227.Google Scholar

18 Mendershausen, Horst, “Prices, Money and the Distribution of Goods in Postwar Germany,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, 1949, p. 663.Google Scholar

19 Monatsberichte der Bank Deutscher Länder, July, 1949, p. 18.Google Scholar

20 Monatsberichte der Bank Deutscher Länder, August, 1949, p. 4.Google Scholar

21 Ibid., October, 1949, p. 75.

22 Ibid., August, 1949, p. 32.

23 At the meeting of the American Economic Association in December, 1949, Walter W. Heller pointed out these tools in his article “The Role of Fiscal-Monetary Policy in German Economic Recovery.”