Postwar experts framed inflation as caused by wartime state interference with market laws

Evidence

Infl ation was diagnosed as a pernicious outcome of war collectivism: i.e., of state interference with the “natural” laws of supply and demand. Th e wartime politicization of the economic domain was characterized as the main catalyst for infl ation, especially its consequent rise in wages and production costs, all of which hindered capital accumulation. “It is generally recognized that continued infl ation, which is primarily due to excessive Government expenditure, has a serious eff ect on production,” noted R. H. Brand (Verbatim Record, Brussels 1920, vol. 2, 17). It followed that fi scal austerity was a primary remedy for infl ation, since— in the framing of the conference experts— budget defi cits forced governments to fi nance their expenditures by issuing either more paper currency or fresh credit, thereby increasing the amount of legal tender in circulation. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 755

Categorization

• XREF: This diagnosis of inflation as a product of state meddling with ‘natural’ market laws prefigures the monetarist narrative of the 1970s-80s and Volcker’s shock, connecting directly to the reader’s interest in austerity’s lineage. — connects to: French reliance on German reparations forced interest-driven deficits and inflation. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 546; Italy’s 1919 inflation triggered nationwide food riots against war profiteers — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 261; Wartime state intervention exposed market arrangements as political choices, not natural facts — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 34 (+3 more)
• DEFINE: Establishes how the 1920s expert class defined inflation’s causation — a foundational framing that justifies the entire austerity program.

Broader Connections

• Monetary inflation was cast as merely a symptom of governmental and worker misbehavior #corroborates (0.95) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 783
• Wartime state intervention exposed market arrangements as political choices, not natural facts #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 34
• Government wartime economic policy revealed state as instrument of class domination #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 204