The Social Market Economy as an Economic and Social order
The Social Market Economy as an Economic and Social order
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作为一种经济和社会秩序的社会市场经济
DOI:
10.1080/00346767800000020
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发表时间:
1978
影响因子:
1
通讯作者:
∗∗ AlfredMüller
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
∗∗ AlfredMüller
Again and again,. in the past two decades observers have asked questions as to the'basis of lthe visible and undeniable success of~ Germany's reconstruction in the post-World War I1 period. Was it, they asked, the accumulation of a nuniber of happy circumstances? Or the application of mysterious prescriptions? As a. matter of, fact, it was neither. There was, moreover, much. talk of" The Economic Miracle," a term which economists in Germany find very unappealing. Germany's reconstruction after 1945 (rather. after the 31948. currency reform and change in economic policy) was characterized by the development of a new style of German economic. policy. The decisive'factor was that for the'first time in German economic history those in charge had the courage to let market forces unfold themselves on the basis of. a consciously formed concept of a new% order. A new economic> policy was inspired by new insights which looked at competition as an indispensable (instrument of any lfree mass society. But this comprehensive order went beyond the market. The intellectual work, done in the field of economic! order theory by the Freiburg School, founded by Walter Eucken and Franz Bohm, threw light on the social. possibilities of a competitive system allowed to function properly. The astonishing successes of the new. market economy strengthened the. thought that it should be possible under the conditions of a free order to find an arrangement satisfying the social needs of our time better than the controlled economy opposed to a free market, such as the dirigisme being practiced in East Germany. In this manner, the model of a constructive Social Market Economy in the German Federal Republic has become an idea the realization of which will determine to a considerable extent whether it is pos-* 0034-6764/78/1201-325/$1.50/0*+ The author was professor of ecollornics and founder of the Institut fiir Wirtschaftspolitik, Universitat zu Koln. Unfortunately, he died March 16, 1978. With Wilhelm Ropke and Ludwig Erhard, Miiller-Armack was a founder of the Social Market Economy of Germany. The Wirtschaftswunder continues to be a success compared to some other Western economies, and so the thoughts of this former secretary of state in the ministry of economic affairs in the areas of social architecture, philosophy and economics should be of special interest. It may be that this is the last article that he wrote.