Product Description

This book provides a new quantitative view of the wartime economic experiences of six great powers; the UK, the USA, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USSR. What contribution did economics made to war preparedness and to winning or losing the war? What was the effect of wartime experiences on postwar fortunes, and did those who won the war lose the peace? A chapter is devoted to each country, reviewing its economic war potential, military-economic policies and performance, war expenditures and development, while the introductory chapter presents a comparative overview. The result of an international collaborative project, the volume aims to provide a text of statistical reference for students and researchers interested in international and comparative economic history, the history of World War II, the history of economic policy, and comparative economic systems. It embodies the latest in economic analysis and historical research.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #218086 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-26
• Released on: 2000-06-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 332 pages

Review
‘How this mobilization [of economic resources] was carried out, and with what consequences, is the subject of this magnificent collection of essays... [it is] the best analysis yet available of the war economies of the major Allied and Axis powers. The book is filled with original statistical material. Each contributor, even for economies where much is already known - Britain, the United States and Germany - has supplied a lively text, peppered with fresh insights and new perspectives. For countries where the basic wartime economic narrative is not yet available to English-speakers - Japan, Italy, the Soviet Union - the contributors have done a remarkable job in providing the quantitative framework without which no comparison can effectively be drawn between the economic war efforts of the six.’ Richard Overy, The Times Literary Supplement

‘Here is no commonplace collective volume, but a splendidly organised compendium of reference and interpretation for all readers interested in the war and an indispensable base for all further enquiry into it.’ Alan Milward, The Times Higher Education Supplement

Customer Reviews

macroeconomic overview of major combatants
This book is a very learned overview of the macro-economic factors affecting the WWII war economies of major combatants. A certain degree of acquaintance with economic monetary theory is advisable. The fact that it includes all the major players is valuable (any article on Italy's war efforts is always welcome!), but the emphasis some of the articles give to econometric treatment is, frankly, irrelevant to understanding most of the war effort, especially when one is talking of survival. The book also tries to analyse how wartime experience helped shape the post war economy, a field in which it it quite successful. It is worth noting, by the way, that generally speaking all the authors seem to agree that wartime investment in capital formation and technical training schemes paid off for the vanquished, whilst in the case of the USSR, the amount of war destruction and the political predominance of the "industrial-military complex" led, ultimately, to economic stagnation.

Advisable for anyone with a serious interest in wartime economics.