Financing Reconstruction

Can historical insight help?

30 Jun 2023 at 9:00am

Frankfurt am Main, Germany

A financial history conference organised by eabh

sponsored by Deutsche Bank AG

This meeting will look at historical precedents of financing reconstruction after war and catastrophe. Can historical insight help?

Which are the right questions to ask to successfully reconstruct the infrastructure and economy of a country or region? Should there be a Marshall Plan for Ukraine? Are grants or loans the more effective way to rebuild? Who should pay how much and how? Which is the most effective way to use any given aid to achieve productive development? How much should be organised by the state or international organisations?

In history, how were financial sectors revived? How did banks rebuild their operations once they were bombed out? Where did they find qualified staff? Who created the initial equity? Which was the role of multi-lateral institutions (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, …) Which was the role of the state?

The past offers many examples of cases: Europe after 1945, Afghanistan and Irak in the 1990s, Haiti after the Earthquakes, Syria, the Middle East after the Arab Spring, to name just a few. We aim to bring together as many examples as possible in order to look at financing reconstruction comparatively.

Programme

30 June

08.30 Coffee for arriving audience 09.00 Welcome Christian Sewing, CEO at Deutsche Bank AG 09.05 Introduction Trade for peace or peace for trade? Hugo Bänziger, Chairman of the Board of eabh 09.20 Keynote speech Elina Ribakova, Bruegel (invited) 10.15 Session 1 Financing war, financing peace Financing war, financing peace. Napoleon, Amsterdam, and the Second Peace of Paris Mark Edward Hay, Erasmus University Amsterdam The Ruble’s wars Ekaterian Pravilova, Princeton University 11.00 Coffee 11.15 Session 2 Reconstruction after war and for independence The transatlantic financial reconstruction of the United States, 1862-1878 Christoph Nitschke, University of Stuttgart (video presentation) European reconstruction after World War II Volker R. Berghahn, Columbia University (video presentation) Eastern European reconstruction after 1989 Mateusz Walewski & Bogdan Zawadewicz, Bank Gospodarstwa Krjowego (BGK, Polish Development Bank) How to storm the financial bastille. The 1825 ransom and the search for Haitian monetary sovereignty Malick Ghachem, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Connecting Ukraine to international capital markets: An application of structured finance to post-war reconstruction Yarema-Luka Yeleyko, Goethe University 12.15 Lunch 13.00 Panel Discussion o Jagjit Chada, Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research o Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka, President of the Management Board of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) (invited) o Vladyslav Rashkovan, Director at the International Monetary Fund o Christian Sewing, CEO at Deutsche Bank AG (tbc) o William Wells, Managing Director at Rothschild & Co o tbc Moderator: Hugo Bänziger, Chairman of the Board of eabh 14.30 Session 3 The 20th century interwar years in Europe Trade finance in post-war financial reconstruction. The case of ter Meulen International Credit Scheme, 1919-1929 Miles Jamieson, Oxford University Reconstruction and integration of the financial system in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after World War I Saša Ilić & Sonia Jerković, National Bank of Serbia The Bank of England and post-World War I rationalisation Vincent Flute, Liverpool John Moores University The National Bank of Greece and the Refugee Settlement Project in the interwar period Margarita Dritsas, Hellenic Open University Société Générale de Belgique and its role in growing the Belgian economy Gertjan Verdickt, Leuven University 15.30 Coffee 15.45 Session 4 Rebuilding Europe after 1945 and beyond Italy’s Mediobanca, the Marshall Plan and the reconstruction of Western Europe Taddeo Molino Lova, Mediobanca Scandinavian post WWI relief credits for Poland. Genesis, payment difficulties and cancelation of remaining debt Robert Andrzejczyk, Rzeszów University, Jósef Pilsudski Museum From post-war reconstruction to global development. The Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Alexander Nützenadel, Humboldt University Berlin 16.15 Closing remarks Harold James, Princeton University (tbc) 16.30 End