Guns and butter - but no margarine: The impact of Nazi economic policies on German food consumtion, 1933-38

Arbeitspapier

The German population's material standard of living during the 'peace years' of the Nazi regime (1933-38) is much debated. We use hitherto disregarded consumption data and the axiom of revealed preferences to test whether the material standard of living improved. We find that the food consumption bundle realized in 1935-36 must have been inferior to that of 1927-28 although GDP per capita was much higher. Even in 1937-38 consumers were probably worse off compared to 1927-28. We conclude that increasing consumption constraints forced German consumers to a diet and thus to a material standard of living that were much more frugal than national income figures suggest.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: FZID Discussion Paper ; No. 23-2010

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: 1913- ; Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ; Other Economic Systems: Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty
• Subject: Nahrungsmittelversorgung ; Lebensstandard ; Wirtschaftsgeschichte ; Deutschland (bis 1945)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Spoerer, Mark ; Streb, Jochen
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Universität Hohenheim, Forschungszentrum Innovation und Dienstleistung (FZID)
• (where): Stuttgart
• (when): 2010

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/44969
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:100-opus-5310
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET