N44 - Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: Europe: 1913-Return

This article focuses on the development and resolution of Czechoslovak state debt from 1945 to 1953. It describes two distinct periods. Between 1945 and 1948, the budget followed a prewar structure where debt constituted a separate part. These times were characterized by an increase of state debt as a result of a postwar economic reconstruction. From 1949 to 1953 the structure of the state budget was adapting to its new function in the economy and the amount of the debt appeared to stabilize. The most important subject of controversy is the solution chosen in 1953. The monetary reform imposed in that year brought an overall nullification of internal state liabilities. There were two reasons for this decision: to substantively break away from the past and to substantially reduce the value of financial assets held by the wealthier segment of society.

The key question of the presented thesis is what precisely economic nationalism means. The author uses the situation in Czechoslovakia between the two world wars as a background of her examination of both its dimensions, economic and nationalistic. She points out several problems arising from the use of the term. She also answers the question to what extent economic nationalism is economic and to what extent it is national. Following her empiric study of the effects of nationalism on economic relations, the author redefines the existing conception and suggests that emphasis be put on the terms economic emancipation and above all national economism. The latter expression describes non-standard economic relations - politically motivated creation of highly deformed market environments characterised by restricted entry opportunities, with the nationality of capital holders being the principal disqualifying condition.