n of additional cartels, one of the more famous being I.G. Farben
Industrie, a chemical trust founded in 1925. The government took some steps
to preserve competition and to avoid blatant abuses, but officials were
tolerant of amalgamation and orderly sales and pricing even when the
restructuring of production and marketing often meant greater savings in
cost to producers rather than lower prices to consumers. German industry
was not unique in its tendency to integrate production and organize markets,
but public opinion and official policy were more permissive than in some
other industrialized countries, particularly the United States.
The German experience with inflation had a strong impact on subsequent
economic policies. World War I was costly for all participants. The Germans
financed their war effort largely by public borrowing with the intention of
collecting indemnities from the losers at least to cover the debt. The
victorious Allies had similar ideas, but after the war the Allies could not
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