Béla Imrédy is mainly remembered as prime minister, a war criminal who chose to stand by the Germans to the end and was subsequently executed in 1946. His life as an economist and economic politician before 1938, however, is much less known. The study examines Imrédy’s views from his first public addresses and publications to the end of the Second World War. The aim, on one hand, is to reconstruct the world view and political discourse he adopted to interpret the changeable political and economic situation and to strengthen his own changing political position. On the other hand, the study also examines to what extent these factors influenced Imrédy’s politics.Imrédy’s views underwent substantial changes between 1927 and 1944. As a young economist he shared the views of economic liberalism predominant in that era. As a politician and member of the government a couple of years later, at the lowest point of the Great Depression, he claimed to believe in an economic system based on Christian values and social solidarity. As an opposition party politician, and the leader of a far right party during the Second World War, he professed as a national socialist working for a people’s welfare state based on supremacist ideas and occupational hierarchy. Later, as minister of finance, his economic policy was markedly determined by his increasingly strong conviction about budget cuts and savings, whereby he rejected Keynesian crisis management by demand simulation and opted for fiscal orthodoxy and financial austerity in budget management instead.

Nincs absztrakt.

Nincs absztrakt.

Nincs absztrakt.

Nincs absztrakt.

The Victoria Mill was founded by wholesale grain merchants and private bankers in 1866 and was one of the big Budapest flour-mills. The once prosperous company became insolvent in the beginning of 1926. The author presents the economic background and the main factors of this bankruptcy on a macro- and micro level as well. The Hungarian milling industry, which was the leading sector of the Hungarian industry before 1918 faced serious problems in the years following World War I. It lost its main markets with the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The big flour-mills had to reduce their capacities significantly and lost their importance in economic growth and exports. The collapse of Victoria Mill coincided with the stabilization crisis of 1925-26. During the inflation years Victoria made significant investments in order to maintain the former exports activities in the successor states. The company acquired shares of many milling firms in Hungary and in the neighbouring successor states as well. However, these efforts proved to be futile, flour exports and profitability decreased substantially after 1924. As a consequence of serious losses and over-expansion the financial positions of the firm deteriorated. The servicing of her debts became increasingly difficult because former short-term credits were not renewed and revenues got significantly reduced. Victoria was not granted bank loans and she did not belong to the clientele of the big Budapest universal banks. To strengthen financial stabilization, central bank narrowed the money supply and decreased the discount of the milling bills. At the same time Victoria also suffered serious losses on the commodity exchange and its shares began suddenly to depreciate. Due to these factors Victoria collapsed. The failure incited government and central bank intervention, which ended in the liquidation of the whole concern.