Breaking up a customs union: The case of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1919

Georges de Menil (1) , Mathilde Maurel (1)

1 DELTA - Département et Laboratoire d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée

Breaking Up a Customs Union: The Case of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1919. — This study has used new estimates of the gravity model to analyze the effects on European trade patterns in the mid-1920s of the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its customs union after World War I. The gravity equation has been found to explain 70 percent of the variance of the trade flows of the principal trading nations in 1924–26. Moreover, the ties between the former members of the Austro-Hungarian Empire remained stronger than any other commercial relationship in Europe. They were second only in intensity — given economic and demographic factors — to those of the British Empire.

Mots clés: European trade patterns; break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Domaines: Economies et finances

Georges de Menil, Mathilde Maurel. Breaking up a customs union: The case of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1919. Review of World Economics, 1994, 130 (3), pp.553-575. ⟨10.1007/BF02707613⟩. ⟨halshs-00468836⟩