Herman Van der Wee, Dr. Dr. h.c.
Professor (emer.) of Economic History
University of Leuven
Born in 1928 in Lier, Belgium
Studied Law, Philosophy, Political and Social Sciences, History, and Economics at the University of Leuven, the University of Paris
and at the London School of Economics
Project
War and Monetary Policy. The National Bank of Belgium, the Brussels Bank of Issue and the Belgian Government, 1938-1948
Belgian monetary and financial policy was influenced strongly by the Second World War. The threat of a German invasion led to a wide range of specific monetary and financial measures. When the invasion occurred and the National Bank's headquarters, following the Belgian government, moved to France, policy adjustments were necessary. The return of the Bank to Brussels after the German occupation of the country and the exile of the government to London complicated monetary and financial policy once again, since the Bank in its policy was squeezed between the demands of the German military administration at Brussels, the needs of the German administration in Berlin, and the distrust of the Belgian government in exile at London. The postwar monetary reform, prepared in Brussels and in London and successfully implemented by Minister of Finance Gutt in October 1944, became a model of monetary policy for the whole of Europe and the basis of Belgium's successful economic recovery during the immediate postwar era.Recommended Reading
Wee, Herman van der. A History of European Banking. Antwerp: European Investment Bank/Fonds Mercator, 2000.<br>
-. The General Bank, 1822-1927: a Permanent Challenge. Tielt: Lannoo, 1997. (German edition: Die Generale Bank: 1822-1997: 175 Jahre, eine ständige Herausforderung.)
-. Prosperity and Upheaval: the World Economy 1945-1980. 3rd edition. London: Penguin, 1987. (French edition: Histoire économique mondiale, 1945-1990. Louvain-la-Neuve: Academia Duculot, 1990.)
Publications from the Fellows' Library
Van der Wee, Herman (Leuven, 2009)
A small nation in the turmoil of the Second World War : money, finance and occupation (Belgium, its enemies, its friends, 1939 - 1945) De Nationale Bank van België 1939 - 1971. Oorlog en monetaire politiek: de Nationale Bank van België, de Emissiebank te Brussel en de Belgische regering, 1939 - 1945 <engl.>
Van der Wee, Herman ([S.l.], 2005)
Oorlog en monetaire politiek : de Nationale Bank van België, de emissiebank te Brussel en de Belgische regering, 1939 - 1945 De Nationale Bank van België 1939 - 1971
Van der Wee, Herman (Antwerpen, 2002)
CERA, 1892 - 1998 : die Kraft der genossenschaftlichen Solidarität
Van der Wee, Herman (Cambridge, 2000)
The twentieth century : an economic retrospective
Van der Wee, Herman (Tielt, 1997)
Die Generale Bank : 1822 - 1997 ; eine ständige Herausforderung Die Generale Bank
Van der Wee, Herman (Antwerpen, 1994)
Van der Wee, Herman (Antwerp, 1994)
Van der Wee, Herman (1993)
Antwerp as a world market in the sixteenth and seventeenth centur
Van der Wee, Herman (Aldershot, Hampshire [u.a.], 1993)
The Low Countries in the early modern world
Van der Wee, Herman (Leuven, 1990)
Metropolitan cities and their hinterlands in early modern Europe : proceedings ; tenth International Economic History Congress Leuven, August 1990 Studies in social and economic history ; 9 / edited by Herman Van der Wee
