Brussels and Genoa conferences made budget balancing the supreme state priority

Evidence

Th e joint statement from the experts at Brussels left no doubt about the European states’ new economic legislative priorities: “Th e equilibrium of State budgets must be restored” and “[f]loating debt should as soon as practicable be funded” (Monetary Problems, Joint Statement of Economic Experts, Brussels 1920, vol. 5, 2- 3). Th e Genoa conference repeated the refrain: “Th e most important reform of all must therefore be the balancing of the annual expenditure of the State without the creation of fresh credits unrepresented by new assets” (Genoa Conference 1922, Report of the Second Commission [Finance], Resolution VII, in Gordon and Montpetit 1922, 68- 69). — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 730

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘no fresh credits unrepresented by new assets’ language is a direct ancestor of balanced-budget amendments and fiscal rules that dominate EU governance today. — connects to: Interwar currency conferences prescribed government spending cuts as currency stabilization — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1683; British austerity predated its codification at the 1920 Brussels and Genoa conferences — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 823

Broader Connections

• Interwar currency conferences prescribed government spending cuts as currency stabilization #corroborates (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1683
• British austerity predated its codification at the 1920 Brussels and Genoa conferences #complicates (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 823