Rule rather than exception: Brüning's fear of devaluation in comparative perspective

Abstract

For decades, historians have debated why Germany’s Chancellor Heinrich Brüning resorted to policies worsening the economic crisis in the early 1930s. Some scholars, first and foremost Knut Borchardt, have argued that for various reasons the Chancellor had no choice but to depress the economy. In particular, Borchardt has pointed out that Brüning was reluctant to devalue the currency because he feared a return of hyperinflation. Borchardt’s critics, by contrast, have rejected this argument on the grounds that Brüning’s fear of devaluat Show more