I have just gathered some data related to wholesale prices in three countries that were involved in World War 1 (1914-1918). Considering that military historians have a tendency to shun economic issues with regards to the study of conflicts, I believe that making this data available could be quite useful. It might be also interesting for military historians to consider two papers in economics about the financing of war.
The first is a paper by Lee Ohanian in the American Economic Review that surveys the way World War 2 and the Korean War were financed and what were the effects on the overall output production. All though not directly related to inflation in war, it does document the effects of issuing debt to finance wartime production. The second paper is in Economic History Review which surveys the war financing of both Britain and Germany and concludes that the latter’s monetary policy was by fare the most expansionnary and led to important inflation which in the long run threatened the economic future of Germany.
Without further delay, here is the data I have for you that you may now consult in the “data sets” section.
Vincent Geloso 