Money and Trade Wars in Interwar Europe

This books explains, on the basis of archival evidence and a simple economic model, why and how the gold standard collapsed in the interwar period. It also reveals how bilateralism and dirigisme in international financial relations emerged from the collapse of the universal gold standard, and how this poisoned international relations.

'Alessandro Roselli has unearthed intriguing documents in the Bank of Italy's archive revealing the developing Nazi German plan of the early WWII years for Europe's future economic and financial organization. The new Europe would be run by Germany and Italy. Showing clearly how the elements of the plan had their origins in the turmoil of the interwar years, he has produced a scholarly, fluently-written, and genuinely fascinating account and closes with thoughts on what eventually happened in Europe.'

• Forrest Capie, Professor Emeritus of Economic History, Cass Business School, City University, London, and author of The Bank of England, 1950s to 1979

  Autorentext
  Alessandro Roselli is Visiting Fellow at Cass Business School, City University, London, and at the University of Buckingham, UK. He has spent most of his career at the central Bank of Italy and has been A.C. Jemolo fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. He has written extensively on banking, finance and economic history. His most recent book is Financial Structures and Regulation: A Comparison of Crises in the UK, USA and Italy.

  Inhalt
  PART I: THE GOLD STANDARD REINSTATED 1. War Reparations and Hyperinflation in Germany 2. The Reichsmark: Stabilization and Foreign Loans 3. Golden Fetters Revisited PART II: THE GOLD STANDARD COLLAPSE: NATIONALISM AND BILATERALISM IN INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL RELATIONS 4. Towards nationalism 5. Bond Repatriation, Export Subsidies and Clearing Agreements 6. Germany and Italy's Relations with South Eastern Europe 7. The Italian-German Clearing PART III: WHAT EUROPE? 8. The Funk Plan 9. Money for the World of Tomorrow: Early Reactions to the Funk Plan