Exchange, Prices, And Production In Hyper Inflation: Germany, 1920-1923 (1930) - Couverture rigide

Graham, Frank D

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 116983194X ISBN 13 : 9781169831940

Editeur : Kessinger Publishing, 2010

Synopsis

""Exchange, Prices, and Production in Hyperinflation: Germany, 1920-1923"" is a book written by Frank D. Graham in 1930. The book provides a detailed analysis of the economic conditions in Germany during the hyperinflation period from 1920 to 1923. Graham explores how the rapid increase in the money supply, combined with the country's war reparations and political instability, led to hyperinflation and economic collapse.The book is divided into three main sections. The first section provides an overview of the hyperinflation period and its causes. Graham discusses the government's decision to print money to pay for war reparations, which led to a rapid increase in the money supply and a decrease in the value of the German mark. He also explores how political instability and the lack of a stable government contributed to the economic crisis.The second section of the book focuses on the impact of hyperinflation on prices and exchange rates. Graham provides detailed data on the rapid increase in prices and the volatility of exchange rates during the hyperinflation period. He also explores how the hyperinflation affected different sectors of the economy, including agriculture, industry, and trade.The final section of the book examines the relationship between hyperinflation and production. Graham argues that the hyperinflation led to a decrease in production, as businesses struggled to cope with the rapidly changing economic conditions. He also explores how the hyperinflation affected employment and wages.Overall, ""Exchange, Prices, and Production in Hyperinflation: Germany, 1920-1923"" provides a comprehensive analysis of one of the most significant economic crises of the 20th century. The book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the history of hyperinflation and its impact on the economy.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

his large-scale study of the German hyper-inflation is definitive in the English language. Written by a professor at Princeton University, and published in 1930, Frank Graham's treatment was so accurate and incisive that Ludwig von Mises himself recommended it time and again. The book begins with clarity about cause and effect. "Germany, in common with other warring countries, departed from the gold standard at the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. On November 20, 1923, the German paper mark, after having fallen to an infinitesimal fraction of its former value, was made redeemable in the newly introduced rentenmark at a trillion to one." Further: "In 1913 the mark was solidly based on gold; in 1923 its value was, as one writer has said, something more ridiculous than zero." An economic historian who understands the relationship between fiat money and inflation is prepared to write a great history, and Graham does that here. The economics of this book are rock solid. He places strong emphasis on the strange behavior of business enterprises under hyperinflation. One might expect that business leaders would decry that inflationary path. The opposite is true. "Many of the leaders of business were convinced that inflation was necessary to the rehabilitation of the German industrial organization; that only through a falling exchange value of the mark could essential foreign markets be regained; that the business profits which it promised, and indeed produced, were a prerequisite to the restoration of a sound peacetime economy." The narrative history here is deeply scientific, covering the economic history blow by blow. He covers the wartime background, the political factors that led to the inflationary choice, the regulation of business under inflation, price controls and their enforcement, the measurement of inflation, the effects on production, the devastation of national income, the gutting of genuine entrepreneurship, the losses on foreign trade, the surprising winners from the wholesale looting, among many other considerations. He comes to terms with a very strange paradox: business was booming during the inflation as never before. Bankruptcies were actually falling and new businesses were forming everywhere. And yet, looked at as a whole, the entire economic structure was being wiped out. Professor Graham discusses the details of this strange paradox and shows how inflation creates such an upsidedown world that the distinction between reality and illusion gets lost. Trading, speculation, working, and economic activity in general might be up, but productivity, income, and economic well being was being destroyed in the process. The activity was entirely diverted from production and wealth creation to consumption and speculation. He provides a very close examination of the turning point of the crisis, when the seeming economic activity turned from hyper-boom to calamity. In particularly, he focuses on the point at which workers began to realize that their wages were not going up but dramatically down in real terms, and began to dump the currency, demanding payment in foreign currencies or goods. The inability of entrepreneurs to function came suddenly. He further assesses the motivation for inflation as it stemmed from the astonishing burden that the Allied powers placed on Germany in the form for reparations for World War I. In this sense, he says, and only in this sense, can the inflation be seen to have benefited the country. It permitted them to get out from under their reparations debt. But the political implications were yet to be revealed by the time this book went to print in 1930. Professor Graham ends on an ominous note that the main mystery yet to be decided concerns what the politics of the situation has in store. He calls this aspect "an inscrutable mystery." The mystery to be revealed in time was of course the rise of Hitler.

Biographie de l'auteur

Frank D. Graham was professor in economics at Princeton from 1921 to 1945. His work on the German hyperinflation, Exchange, Prices, and Production in Hyper-Inflation: Germany, 1920–1923, comes highly recommended by Ludwig von Mises himself.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Kessinger Publishing
• Date d'édition: 2010
• ISBN 10: 116983194X
• ISBN 13: 9781169831940
• Reliure: Relié
• Langue: anglais
• Nombre de pages: 382
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible