Freedom with responsibility

Anthony James Nicholls

This book goes behind the success story of the federal Republic of Germany since the Second World War to examine the principles underpinning the so-called 'economic miracle'. West Germany's Economics Minister, Ludwig Erhard, maintained that his Social Market Economy worked because it consisted of sound economic principles applied with common sense and consistency. It was a serious attempt to harness the dynamic forces of free-market competition while avoiding the damaging social problems created by unfettered laissez-faire. A.J. Nicholls examines the intellectual origins and history of the concept of the Social Market Economy, and its implementation in the difficult years of post-war devastation and recovery in West Germany. He traces the struggle of liberal economists to assert their ideas in the unfavourable circumstances from 1933 to 1948, when they triumphed with Erhard's...

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