Book contents
- When Nations Can’t Default
- Studies in Macroeconomic History
- When Nations Can’t Default
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Data and Replication
- 1 Introduction
- 2 A Framework for War Reparations
- 3 Sovereign Debt
- 4 Napoleonic Wars Reparations
- 5 Haiti Indemnity and Sovereign Debt
- 6 Franco-Prussian War Indemnities
- 7 Smaller Nineteenth-Century War Reparations
- 8 German World War I Reparations
- 9 Russian and Bulgarian World War I Reparations
- 10 World War II Reparations to the Soviet Bloc
- 11 World War II Reparations to the Allies
- 12 Iraq Gulf War Reparations
- 13 When Nations Can’t Default
- Appendix: Letter to Creditor Committees
- References
- Index
10 - World War II Reparations to the Soviet Bloc
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2023
- When Nations Can’t Default
- Studies in Macroeconomic History
- When Nations Can’t Default
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Data and Replication
- 1 Introduction
- 2 A Framework for War Reparations
- 3 Sovereign Debt
- 4 Napoleonic Wars Reparations
- 5 Haiti Indemnity and Sovereign Debt
- 6 Franco-Prussian War Indemnities
- 7 Smaller Nineteenth-Century War Reparations
- 8 German World War I Reparations
- 9 Russian and Bulgarian World War I Reparations
- 10 World War II Reparations to the Soviet Bloc
- 11 World War II Reparations to the Allies
- 12 Iraq Gulf War Reparations
- 13 When Nations Can’t Default
- Appendix: Letter to Creditor Committees
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 10 is the story of World War II reparations to the Soviet Bloc. It focuses on Finnish reparations in the 1940s, which were repaid under great economic strain. Unable to default because of geopolitical considerations, it took Finland years to grow its economy following the war because large parts of its domestic resources went to produce reparations. The country did not have the option of defaulting because of political pressure in the new geopolitical landscape that emerged from World War II. Finland managed to eventually grow its way out of debt trouble. The trajectory was suboptimal. It involved three devaluations, a fall in real wages of more than 50 per cent, and large inflationary problems. I argue that a sovereign debt default would have allowed foreign exchange to be used for domestic purposes, but because it was not possible the macroeconomic adjustment had to come from elsewhere. Finnish state survival and its geographical location meant that it chose to repay reparations rather than attempt a default.
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- Information
- When Nations Can't DefaultA History of War Reparations and Sovereign Debt, pp. 133 - 138Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023