(Re)Construction Site of German Historical National Accounts: German Agricultural Employment, Production and Labour Productivity: A New Benchmark for 1936 and a Note on Hoffmann's Tales

This paper focuses on agricultural performance in 1936 as part of a comprehensive project to (re)construct a new and reliable benchmark for revising German historical national accounts. The new estimates presented here confirm the poor agricultural performance of Germany compared with other developed economies. The new figures are even significantly lower than Hoffmann´s estimates: In particular, this is shown for key variables like gross and net value added and labour productivity. The benchmark year of 1936 is considered to be representative of the inter-war years. Consequently, once again my statement is confirmed that one should keep away from Hoffmann´s figures when discussing any aspect of economic failure of the Weimar Republic or economic recovery after Hitler came to power.