The first world war and the international economy

An assessment of the impact of World War I on the international economy.

The contributors offer perspectives on the effects of the war on the long-term growth rates of the belligerent countries and examine its impact on individual sectors within these economies.

Major discussions include: a discussion of trade barriers as a scapegoat for the sluggish state of world trade in the 1920s; a reassessment of the links between World War I, German banking instability and the catastrophe in July 1931; the impact of the war on the American manufacturing industry which continued to expand rapidly, boosting big business and redistributing some manufacturing to the south of the country; the social and economic consequences of the war for British and Indian cotton industries; the impact of the war on the Japanese economy and society; and the effects of the war on organized labour and the women's labour force.