Postwar Inflation

Abstract

Of all the aspects of the postwar crisis, monetary inflation was most keenly felt by the population at large. It wiped out savings, but also wiped out debts. Farmers found their burden of debt lightened while prices for their products rose. People who had bought war bonds suffered because inflation diminished the value of these bonds, while governments were relieved of much of the domestic debt they had built up during the war—it amounted to unannounced repudiation. The imbalances created by inflation were so widespread that in 1920 the League of Nations convened an International Financial Conference in Brussels to discuss the matter. The following document, from the introduction to the report of the Conference, indicates some of the general aspects of the postwar inflation.