Food Rationing and the Black Market in France (1940-1944)

Mouré, Kenneth

doi:10.1093/fh/crq025

Cited by 30 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…In each of them, food was rationed throughout the war. The average daily ration in France in 1941-1944 was limited to 1180 kcal (Mouré, 2010). This is considerably less than the recommended amount for nonpregnant women of 2,000 kcal.…”

Section: Background and Pathways For Effectsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Why People Born During World War II are Healthier

Ewijk

Lindeboom

2017

SSRN Journal

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During wars, countless people suffer, even during times without direct exposure to violence, as they are exposed to conditions such as poorer nutritional situations, stress, recessions, and sub optimally functioning health care systems. This was the situation during much of World War II in three occupied countries: France, Belgium and The Netherlands. Biological theory predicts that the health of those who were prenatally exposed to such adverse circumstances will be worse once they have reached old age. But for WWII, such effects have thus far been proven only for famines and other extreme exposures that differed from those experienced by the majority of women in these occupied countries who were pregnant during WWII. We show that -contrary to expectations -prenatal exposure to WWII in the three countries does not lead to poorer health among the older population. We even find a better health among exposed females, but demonstrate that this is due to selective mortality during infanthood among the war cohorts and to selective fertility during WWII. These selection effects are likely to be stronger during more extreme circumstances than the ones studied here. Therefore, previous research on long-term effects of such prenatal exposures may have underestimated effects. Negative health effects as a result of prenatal exposure to WWII in France, Belgium and The Netherlands -outside of the well-known effects of the Dutch famine -are absent or at most very small.

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Section: Background and Pathways For Effectsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Why People Born During World War II are Healthier

Ewijk

Lindeboom

2017

SSRN Journal

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“…To spend his money he buys artworks, even though he hates paintings. Recent academic work on the black market in Occupied France also stresses the concealment role played by artworks (Mouré and Grenard, ; Mouré, , ) and luxury goods (Grenard, ). Mouré and Grenard () highlight that buying real goods to conceal illegal profits was common ‘long before the Liberation’, suggesting that the impact of these activities may have already been visible at an early stage of the Occupation.…”

Section: The Nazi Position On Art and The French Art Market During Womentioning

confidence: 99%

Art as a Wartime Investment: Conspicuous Consumption and Discretion

Oosterlinck

2017

The Economic Journal

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The financial underperformance of art as an investment is well documented. In contrast to studies conducted on peace-time periods, this paper shows that the art market in occupied France during WWII significantly outperformed all alternative investments (bonds, equities, as well as currencies exchanged on the black market) other than gold. This suggests that art may be a good hedge against low-probability disasters. The paper further demonstrates that motives to purchase art (consumption and investment) vary over time. In his theoretical model, Mandel (2009) attributes art's low return to the utility derived from conspicuous consumption. In occupied France during WWII, conspicuous consumption was impossible for artworks deemed "degenerate" by the Nazis. The price evolution of "degenerate" versus "non-degenerate" artworks confirms the importance of conspicuous consumption in artworks' pricing. Eventually, the paper defines the concept of discretion, the ability to store a large amount of value in small and easily transportable goods. During wartime, illegal activities and the risk of being forced to flee the country increased the interest for discreet assets as shown by the better performance of small (and thus discreet) artworks in comparison to large ones. ABSTRACTThe financial underperformance of art as an investment is well documented. In contrast to studies conducted on peace-time periods, this paper shows that the art market in occupied France during WWII significantly outperformed all alternative investments (bonds, equities, as well as currencies exchanged on the black market) other than gold.This suggests that art may be a good hedge against low-probability disasters. The paper further demonstrates that motives to purchase art (consumption and investment) vary over time. In his theoretical model, Mandel (2009) attributes art's low return to the utility derived from conspicuous consumption. In occupied France during WWII, conspicuous consumption was impossible for artworks deemed "degenerate" by the Nazis. The price evolution of "degenerate" versus "non-degenerate" artworks confirms the importance of conspicuous consumption in artworks' pricing. Eventually, the paper defines the concept of discretion, the ability to store a large amount of value in small and easily transportable goods. During wartime, illegal activities and the risk of being forced to flee the country increased the interest for discreet assets as shown by the better performance of small (and thus discreet) artworks in comparison to large ones.

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“…The literature on poor nutrition during pregnancy is relevant to World War 2, since in all occupied countries food was rationed. For example, the average daily rations amounted to 1180 calories for France, 1400 for Belgium and 1800 for The Netherlands (Mouré, 2010). This is around half of the recommended number of calories per day for pregnant women.…”

Section: Prenatal Exposure To Poor Nutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Babies of the War: The Effect of War Exposure Early in Life on Mortality Throughout Life

Lindeboom

Ewijk

2015

Biodemography and Social Biology

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There is increasing evidence that circumstances very early in our lives, and particularly during pregnancy, can affect our health for the remainder of life. Studies that have looked at this relationship have often used extreme situations, such as famines that occurred during wartime. Here we investigate whether less extreme situations during World War II also affected later-life mortality for cohorts born in Belgium, France, The Netherlands, and Norway. We argue that these occupied countries experienced a considerable deterioration in daily life situations and show that this resulted in strongly increased mortality rates and lower probabilities of survival until age 55 among civilian populations who had been prenatally exposed to wartime circumstances. However, this mortality effect among the prenatally exposed is entirely concentrated in the first years of life, particularly infanthood. Once we condition on having survived the first years of life, those who had been prenatally exposed do not have higher mortality rates. This suggests that "culling" is important and that effects found in earlier studies may have been biased downward substantially.

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Food Rationing and the Black Market in France (1940-1944)

Cited by 30 publications

References 0 publications

Why People Born During World War II are Healthier

Why People Born During World War II are Healthier

Art as a Wartime Investment: Conspicuous Consumption and Discretion

Babies of the War: The Effect of War Exposure Early in Life on Mortality Throughout Life

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