The French War Reparations and the German Post-War Boom 1871-1873
30 Pages Posted: 17 Feb 2011 Last revised: 21 Feb 2011
Date Written: June 29, 1999
Abstract
Economic and historic literature is divided on the impact of the war reparations France had to pay to Germany after 1871. In view of the crisis that hit the German economy and stock markets just a few years later some claim that the reparations were a "poisoned" gift that Germany should not have pursued. Based on a sketch of the historical events and their echo in the literature this paper applies various theories on the impact of monetary transfers between different economies on the case of the French war reparations. It concludes that observable negative impacts can indeed be traced back to the use Germany made of the reparations, but not on the transfer as such.
Note: Downloadable document is in German.
Keywords: war reparations, transfer theory
JEL Classification: N13, N43
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation