Wagemann plan

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The Wagemann Plan was a plan drawn up by Ernst Wagemann in 1931 and presented in early 1932 to overcome the global economic crisis . Wagemann was President of the Reich Statistical Office in the Weimar Republic and prepared the plan without the knowledge of the Reich government.

In contrast to the policy of the Brüning government , Wagemann envisaged an expansion of the money supply. His program was fiercely opposed, terms such as "anarchist inflation program" and "temporary monetary anarchy" were used.

Wagemann suggested loosening the Reichsbank Act and partially abolishing the gold backing of the Reichsmark by dividing the means of payment into producer and consumer money. The latter should include all coins and bills up to 50 RM, as, in his opinion, these played no role in international payment transactions. The gold cover should be replaced by government bonds for consumer money, but retained for producer money. Wagemann hoped this would relieve the Reichsbank, the savings banks and the state treasury.

As the implementation of the plans partially contradicted the background of Brüning's deflationary policy , Wagemann's plan was rejected. Foreign policy problems were feared because the impression could have arisen that Germany was trying to reduce its reparation obligations by means of deliberately induced currency devaluation .

Before Wagemann's public lecture on his plan on February 1, 1932, Finance Minister Dietrich , Economics Minister Warmbold and Reichsbank President Luther , chaired by Brüning, met with their top officials to determine the reaction of the Reich government to the contents of the plan that had already become known.

Economy Minister Warmbold, who was Wagemann's brother-in-law, regretted not having been informed by him beforehand, since otherwise he would have asked him not to speak. Wagemann was obliged to emphasize that the plan was his own, privately produced scientific work and not commissioned by the government. The government publicly distanced itself from the plan, although Dietrich remarked that some things were right about the plan, only that "the bomb (...) burst too early".

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  1. ^ Central Association of the German Banking and Banking Industry: Bank Archive. Volume 31. Berlin 1931. ( online )
  2. ^ Ernst Wagemann: Money and Credit Reform. Berlin 1932. ( online )
  3. ↑ Ernst Wagemann - Wagemann as an economic researcher ( Memento from June 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ a b Brüning's economic policy by Matthias Bartsch and Henryk Eismann, accessed September 25, 2009
  5. ^ Central Association of the German Banking and Banking Industry: Bank Archive. Volume 31. Berlin 1931. p. 179: "What Wagemann completely overlooks, however, is that changes to the banking law can affect the Hague Protocol, which is attached to the Young Plan."
  6. ^ Charles P. Kindleberger: The World in Depression 1929-1939. London 1986. ( online ) pp. 170-173:
    “His suicidal policy stemmed from his general philosophy. He feared the phantom of a runaway inflation; he did not like the idea of ​​pampering the unemployed by creating jobs; and he thought that a public works program was a luxury Germany could not afford. [...] deflation would lead to the cancellation of reparations. "
  7. ↑ a b Note from Ministerialrat Feßler , accessed on September 25, 2009.