Central European Papers 2014, 2(2):164-178 | DOI: 10.25142/cep.2014.034

The Central-European Economic Effects of the World War I

Ferenc SZÁVAI

Nemzetközi Gazdasági Kapcsolatok Tanszék, Módszertani Intézet, Gazdaságtudomány, Kaposvári Egyetem, Department of International Economic Relations, Institute of Methodology, Faculty of Economic Science of the Kaposvár University, Guba Sándor u. 40, 7400 Kaposvár, Hungary, szavai.ferenc@ke.hu

The First World War brought total economic exhaustion to the Central-European region. It caused problems in the workforce, and finances. Together with inflation, it emerged in the form of a serious government debt. The agricultural balance of the world was lost, as well as the system of financial gold standard. In this, new, Central-European region, the typical form of existence was the economy of self-supply, and the policy of seclusion. After the dissolution of the great economic unity, the national assets became the possession of the former member states of the Monarchy; however, in numerous cases it gave grounds for quarrels and complaints. Among these, in this study, I concentrated on the cases of options, pension provisions and old crown accounts.

Keywords: government asset, war loan, inflation, disintegration, expropriation, option, joint tribunal, economic self-sufficiency, Treaty of Trianon, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Republic

Published: September 1, 2014  Show citation