Commercial Hysteresis: Persistence and Reorganization in Europe’s Bilateral Trade Geography during the Great Depression

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Adam Dittrich, Prague University of Economics and Business

Version:  View help for Version V2

Name File Type Size Last Modified
  Replication 03/25/2026 03:17:PM

Project Citation: 

Dittrich, Adam. Commercial Hysteresis: Persistence and Reorganization in Europe’s Bilateral Trade Geography during the Great Depression. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2026-03-25. https://doi.org/10.3886/E247132V2

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary This paper examines whether the Great Depression fundamentally remapped Europe’s bilateral trade geography or whether pre-crisis partner structures remained durable through the 1930s. Using a newly constructed bilateral trade panel for twenty-one European countries, 1927–1938, it studies persistence and reallocation in bilateral trade relations. The results show strong continuity: by 1937, partner rankings still resembled those of 1928, and most countries retained at least two pre-crisis core partners. Yet post-1931 shocks weakened inherited structures, especially on the import side. Germany became a distinctive focal partner within this selective reorganization. Interwar Europe thus exhibited commercial hysteresis rather than wholesale remapping.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources Prague University of Economics and Business (IG503025)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms economic history; international trade; Great Depression (1929); interwar history
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Europe
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1927 – 1938

Methodology

Data Source:  View help for Data Source LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Economic and Financial Section (1930). Memorandum on International Trade and Balances of Payments, 1926–1928, vol. III: Trade Statistics of Sixty-Four Countries; Including Provisional Summary Figures for 1929.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Economic and Financial Section (1931). Memorandum on International Trade and Balances of Payments, 1927–1929, vol. III: Trade Statistics of Sixty-Four Countries; Including Provisional Summary Figures for 1930.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Economic and Financial Section (1932). International Trade Statistics 1930 (including provisional summary figures for 1931).

LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Economic and Financial Section (1933). International Trade Statistics 1931 and 1932.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Economic and Financial Section (1934). International Trade Statistics 1933.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Economic and Financial Section (1935). International Trade Statistics 1934.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Economic and Financial Section (1936). International Trade Statistics 1935.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Economic and Financial Section (1937). International Trade Statistics 1936.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Economic and Financial Section (1938). International Trade Statistics 1937.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Economic and Financial Section (1939). International Trade Statistics 1938.

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V2 [2026-03-25]

V1 [2026-03-24]

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