Hjalmar Schacht, President van de Rijksbank tussen twee Wereldoorlogen : Zijn analyse van de monetaire betekenis van de goederen-, geld- en kapitaalmarkten tijdens de nasleep van de Eerste Wereldoorlog, de crisis van 1931, de ondergang van de Weimarrepubliek en de vestiging van de Hitlerdictatuur

Schacht analyses the causes of the hyperinflation in 1923 and constructs the definitive instruments and policies to restore price and exchange stability. This took place under difficult poliical circumstances, especially caused bij French obstruction..The allies of the First World War contituted a new gold based monetary system for Germany and made new arrangements in respect of the repairpayments to be paid bij Germany to the West-European Allies. This system together with the policies of the German banks, foreign creditors and the governments of Germany and the Allies, under the circumstances of a structural deficit on running account, caused fundamental monetary instabilitiy. Schacht analyses the situation and developes new monetary and capitalmarket theory . On the basis of that he tries to convince the allies and his own government to revise their policies in order to restore monetary stability and failed. He resigned as president of the Reichsbank. He came back in this office under Hitler. His internal monetary policiy was aimed at economic growth and full employment. He was succesfull during the first years after 1933. The public expenditure of the Nazi government caused at the end of the thirties budget deficits and growing public debt. Inflation was resisted bij price and wage policies. The balance of payments showed a development in the direction of deficits on running account. Schacht warned in time that the Nazi Government brought itself into financial trouble. He proposed adaptive policies which were rejected by the Nazi government and resigned in 1939 as president of the Reichsbank. He published his analysis already in the 1933- 1939 period and after the war. They are here analysed in the context of Schacht's economic thinking and the circumstances in the mentioned period. The same is done with Schacht's foreign diplomacy to get raw materials by German colonial exploitation in the African region. This policy was tolerated bij Hitler until 1938. In fact Hitler was not really interested but used Schacht to develop his plans to expend Germany's influence in Eastern Europe and autarky in respect of primary commodities. Schacht opposed both. Schacht's diplomacy failed. This was also the case with his opposition to the autarkit policies of the Nazi regime. In fact he argues in the same way as he did by developing his economic theory on international trade and capital movements developed in 1929. After the war he repeated this theory in criticising the IMF system and the monetary policy of the Bundesregierung. This cricism dealt also with his view on monetary systems based on the goldstandard. His theories are analysed also in respect of the thinking on te same issues by other economists ,