Written during the early 1920s, at a time when Europe was still recovering from the catastrophe of the First World War, L.V. Birck’s The Scourge of Europe examines the economic issues surrounding the existence of public debt, its history, and possible approaches to problems associated with public debt as they were being pursued by the great powers of the time. Birck’s analysis contains a rigorous theoretical exposition and explanation of public debt as it was understood in the crucial period leading up to the Great Depression. This is then followed by an insightful exploration of the role of public debt in European financial and economic history. Finally, some reflections on the policies of England, the United States, France and Germany in the latter part of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries are included.

This book will appeal to economic and financial historians, as well as to those generally interested in European policies towards debt from the Middle Ages to modern times.