This edited volume, resulting from the research project “Wars and Post-War: States and Societies, Cultures and Structures” at the Università degli Studi di Trento, is dedicated to the economies of Austria(-Hungary) and Italy during and after World War I. In his introduction, Andrea Bonoldi names the shared theme behind the contributions: inflation. The devastating effect of currency erosion in both countries between 1914 and 1925 posed a challenge for politicians and economists on the one hand and “ordinary” people, who saw their financial basis crumble, on the other. The book not only aims to advance knowledge of this crucial period of Central European history, but also seeks to provide “a better understanding of inflation as a historical phenomenon in general” (14).

To this aim, Walter M. Iber provides a very useful overview of the Austrian state of affairs between 1914 and 1925, sketching the (hyper)inflationary events and the subsequent financial reconstruction. He concludes that the Austrian restructuring policy, assisted by a gigantic loan from the League of Nations, was very restrictive. It stabilized the currency but created a far-reaching lack of flexibility that hurt the economy during the Great Depression, when the Austrian government refused to resort to a deficit spending policy. In her analysis of the economic challenges in Hungary, Ágnes Pogány similarly outlines the inflation during the war and the financial reconstruction after 1918. Once domestic plans had failed, Hungary also turned to the international community for loans, albeit some time later than Austria. Both countries successfully overcame inflation at roughly the same conversion rate between the old currency and the new one.

Andrea Bonoldi opens a series of three articles on financial developments during the war with his analysis of Italy's strategies to fund the war effort. To avoid raising taxes, the Italian government operated with “an expansion of the monetary base and massive internal and external debt” (56). This strategy had its downsides but worked fairly well until the currency's exchange rate came under pressure due to increased imports and heavily decreased exports. When financial support by the Entente ended after the conflict, Italy found itself again in a very precarious situation. Richard Lein provides a concise overview of Austria-Hungary's war funding: inadequate preparations posed a problem right from the start. As the war went on, the government used loans from the Österreichisch-ungarische Bank to cover a large share of their expenses. Tax policy played a minor role in Austria-Hungary, with a war profits tax as the only relevant innovation. Most important—and less problematic concerning inflation—were the war bonds issued to the general public. They, however, were a tremendous burden on state finances and posed a certain risk for the banks that accepted them as a collateral for loans. Anatol Schmied-Kowarzik's contribution puts forth the hypothesis that the overloaded yet vital transport system in Austria-Hungary during the war was hampered greatly not by the lack of coal or locomotives but by illicit trade. Coal could have worked as a valuable commodity for illicit barter. This widespread practice further increased inflation as it shortened the amount of consumption goods available on the free market.

The volume's concluding section is again dedicated to Italy. Eleonora Belloni sheds light on the role of Italian industry in war mobilization and sketches the main developments of the economy transitioning to meet the needs of the war effort and, after the conflict, returning to a peacetime production mode. Among the many problems of the transition, Belloni also singles out inflation as the preeminent factor in this financial upheaval. Andrea Bonoldi rounds out the series of essays with a comparison between Austria-Hungary and Italy. Taking inflation as a starting point, he sets out to show the similarities in the prewar development of the two states, which both placed in the middle of the development scale of European economies. His comparison clearly demonstrates that the war hit Austria-Hungary harder, yet Italy was also affected by grave economic problems. After the war, these economic challenges were among the factors that enabled the rise of illiberal regimes.

Beside the generally fine quality of the essays, two factors make this volume a valuable contribution. First, it connects historians working on Austrian, Hungarian, and Italian topics, an effort that is rooted in a certain long-maintained tradition of Austrian and Italian scholars collaborating on elucidating their shared, often-contested history. Second, the volume makes available to an English-speaking audience a broad range of information regarding the economic history of Italy and Austria-Hungary during World War I. For scholars and students alike, this is a useful contribution to broaden the picture in the English-language literature and provide a starting point for further research.