Abstract

In the early months of the war, price controls were implemented to regulate food supplies. Prices continued to rise, however, and the German government increasingly suspended the market mechanism altogether. Instead, the government chose rationing, which entailed the regulation of the entire agricultural process, from production to consumption. This document outlines the general scheme for rationing, which was first implemented for food supplies but later extended to other areas of production.

Rationing in Principle

Source

Source: Otto Goebel, Deutsche Rohstoffwirtschaft im Weltkrieg einschließlich des Hindenburg-Programms [The German Raw Materials Industry in World War including the Hindenburg Program]. Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1930, p. 104.