Why the French Said ‘Non’: A New Perspective on the Hoover Moratorium of June 1931

2020 ◽  
pp. 002200942094992
Author(s):  
Simon Banholzer ◽  
Tobias Straumann

Why did the French government delay its endorsement of the Hoover Moratorium in the summer of 1931? Key policymakers were fully aware that their stance would exacerbate the German financial crisis, which ultimately dragged the European economy into the abyss. Most historical accounts identify the plan for an Austro-German customs union, which became known publicly in March 1931, as a major cause for the French ‘non’. We suggest a different chronology by showing that the French government was reluctant to help Germany as early as the fall of 1930 when, in the wake of the Nazi victory in the Reichstag elections, a currency crisis threatened to ruin the German monetary and financial system and bring down the government. We also argue that the reason for this French reluctance to extend financial help to Germany was the traumatic experience resulting from the evacuation of the Rhineland in June 1930. This chauvinistic outburst in Germany not only frightened the French public, but also made it clear to French politicians how the lack of military cooperation with the Anglo-Saxon powers had made France highly vulnerable on its Eastern front. After June 1930 a financial bargain with Germany became unrealistic, due to domestic opposition.

2011 ◽  
pp. 39-50
Author(s):  
V. Lushin

The author analyzes factors that led to a deeper fall in output and profitability in the real sector of the Russian economy in comparison with other segments during the acute phase of the financial crisis. It is argued that some contradictions in the government anti-recession policy, activities of the financial sector and natural monopolies lead to pumping out added value created in manufacturing and agriculture, increase symptoms of the «Dutch disease», etc. It is shown that it may threaten the balanced development of the Russian economy, and a set of measures is suggested to minimize these tendencies and create a basis for the state modernization policy.


2008 ◽  
pp. 110-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Yakovlev

Using the data of SU-HSU enterprises surveys and internal statistics of KPMG company the paper provides a non-conventional view on three economic problems which have recently been in the center of expert discussions in Russia: competitiveness of firms, corruption in the government and level of taxation. The paper argues the necessity of pragmatic approach to economic phenomena, especially under conditions of high uncertainty caused by the increasing global financial crisis.


Public Choice ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vuk Vukovic

AbstractIn 2008, as the financial crisis unfolded in the United States, the banking industry elevated its lobbying and campaign spending activities. By the end of 2008, and during 2009, the biggest political spenders, on average, received the largest bailout packages. Is that relationship causal? In this paper, I examine the effect of political connections on the allocation of funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to the US financial services industry during the 2008–2009 financial crisis. I find that TARP recipients that lobbied the government, donated to political campaigns, or whose top executives had direct connections to politics received better bailout deals. I estimate regression discontinuity design and instrumental variable models to uncover how election outcomes for politicians in close races affected the distribution of bailout funds for connected firms. The results do not imply that some banks were deliberately favored over others, just that favored banks benefited because of their proximity to the right people in power. If being politically connected matters in general, in times of crisis it matters even more.


2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Lethbridge

Taking the majority of its examples from the Salon of 1872, this article explores the extent to which official intervention was effective in eliminating from the exhibition potentially inopportune representations of the Franco-Prussian War. The withdrawal of a certain number of works deemed to risk offending the Prussians coincided with the very moment the French government was trying to negotiate the departure of occupying enemy troops under the terms of the May 1871 Treaty of Frankfurt. It initiated, or reignited, a debate about censorship during the course of which art criticism was itself politicized. Drawing on information in the Salon catalogue and analysing the reviews of the exhibition which appeared in the Parisian press, the article takes issue with much scholarship to date. In particular, it demonstrates how the interpretation of artistic works on display is inflected by polemical and ideological determinants. What emerges from this is precisely the incipient revanchard discourse which the government had hoped to suppress.


2021 ◽  
pp. 90-100
Author(s):  
Yuan-Chun Lan ◽  
Norio Sasaki

A financial crisis can somehow imply an aspect of social crisis but a social crisis usually reflects the crisis of the society per se, and therefore the historical and cultural background as well as the legal and financial system therefrom. In the case of Asia, the context should add another storyline of the reception and integration of western ideas, including, inter alia, justification of taxation and its implication on government intervention. This paper examines such elements in the form of dialogue with historical accounts of traditional Chinese thoughts.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Md. Nannu Mian ◽  
Md. Mamunur Rashid

Legal aid is essentially a mechanism that enables the poor and the vulnerable sectors of the society to be able to enforce their legal rights in order to access a fair and equitable justice in the society. Nowadays, a legal aid can be justifiably said as a crying need to ensure social and legal justice in Bangladesh because most of the citizens are illiterate and they live below the poverty line which incidentally makes matters worse. Due to their financial crisis or lack of legal knowledge they are often precluded to access justice. In recognizing the legal aid as a right, the government has enacted some laws. However, unfortunately those laws are full of weaknesses, loopholes, and procedural complexities which have to be judiciously addressed in the proper legal perspectives. As a matter of fact, legally speaking, much has been said and done, but ironically not much has been practiced. Due to these ever unsettling defects, the ultimate objectives of those laws have frequently failed to ensure enjoyment of the legal aid services among the vulnerable sectors of the society. In this research, an attempt has been made to analyze and find out numerous legal the gaps, loopholes and complexities of the existing laws relating to legal aid services in Bangladesh and frame out a comprehensive solution for ensuring the aid program by adopting the qualitative and the analytical research methods.


Resolution of the so-called “Bangsamoro Question” rests at the heart of the peace process between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Southern Philippines, also known as the Bangsamoro homeland. Inspired by Allison and Zelikow’s conceptualization of Rational Actor Model (RAM), this paper analyzed how rational factor contributed to the conclusion of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) in 2014 and eventually enshrined into the Philippine Constitution through the approval of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) on July 27, 2018. This paper argued that the success of the GPH-MILF peace process does not only depend on the sincerity of the administrations of both then President Aquino III and current President Duterte, international support or commitment, pressure from civil societies and community involvement as what many commentators provided. As shown in this paper, the rational factor and its dimension significantly affected actors’ strategic interactions and the GPH-MILF peace process per se. The findings offered a new perspective for conflict-resolution and shed light on how rational dimension impacted both actors’ strategic interactions, which led to the conclusion of the GPH-MILF peace agreement. This clearly indicated that rational dimension greatly influenced GPH and MILF’s strategic interactions and thereby took flexible attitudes to resolve outstanding issues between them which consequently led to the signing of the CAB and ultimately the ratification of the BOL in 2018.


Author(s):  
S. P. Volf ◽  

The article highlights the ways of resolving family conflicts nobles and peasants in the first third of the XIX century in the Russian Empire, against the background of the ongoing systematization of legislation. Based on examination of the letters and memoirs of the nobles and peasants we highlighted the methods, which are actually used to solve family conflicts. I conclude that nobles and peasants rarely used help of the state in resolving family conflicts. The sphere of family relations was sacred for these estates; therefore, they did not rope the authorities into family conflicts. I have identified the following ways to resolve family conflicts: duel; marriage, often in the form of a secret wedding; going to the monastery and punishing the unfaithful wife; different approaches to raising children by peasants and nobles. The author of the article pays attention to passivity of the peasants in resolving their family conflicts. The results of the study allow exploring the alternative ways of resolving family conflicts based on representatives of other classes of Russian society in the first third of the 19th century (clergy, merchants, philistines, foreigners) as well, using wider range of sources (journalism, normative acts, fiction, paperwork). This analysis contributes to the discussion about the limits of the government intervention into family affairs. The author of the article redlines that people did not trust the law and resorted to the personally legitimate sources of dealing with family conflicts. This conclusion presents a new perspective in the discussion of legal nihilism and real application of the law in life


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efthalia Tabouratzi ◽  
Christos Lemonakis ◽  
Alexandros Garefalakis

The globalization and the global financial crisis provide a new extremely competitive environment for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). During the latest years, the increased number of firms’ default has generated the need of understanding the factors of firms’ default, as SMEs in periods of financial crisis suffer from lack of financial resources and expensive bank lending. We use a sample of 3600 Greek manufacturing firms (9 Sectors), covering the time period of 2003-2011 (9 years). We run a panel regression model with correction for fixed effects in both the cross-section and period dimensions using as dependent variable the calculated Z-Score of each firm, and as independent variables several financial ratios, as well as the exporting activity and the use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS Accounting Standards).We find that firms presenting higher performance in terms of ROA and sales and higher leverage levels that enhance their liquidity as well are healthier in terms of Z-score than their less profitable counterparts and acquire lower rates of probability of default: in other words, less risk. The results of the study can lead to policy implications for both Managers and the Government in order to enhance the growth of Greek manufacturing sector.


Author(s):  
Gordon L. Clark ◽  
Adam D. Dixon ◽  
Ashby H. B. Monk

During the financial crisis, a number of East Asian sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) acted as insurers of last resort for their nation-states, underwriting financial stability and social welfare. This chapter explains how and why this role came to pass, arguing that it serves to sustain the legitimacy of the nation-state as well as justify the separation of SWF assets from the public interest in current consumption and spending. Focusing on the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), it suggests that the prospect of recurrent financial crises was an important prompt for its establishment in 1981, reinforced by the experience of many East Asian countries in the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The chapter explains the formal constitution of the GIC, the mechanisms by which its reserves are returned to the government in crisis, and the role of different sections of the political elite in managing those assets. Referencing the principles of best-practice fund governance and the Santiago Principles underwriting the legitimacy of SWFs, it also considers the governance of the GIC, especially in regard to its investment processes.


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