Die Bedeutung von Walter Euckens Grundsätzen für die Wirtschaftspolitik von heute

Ulrich van Suntum, Tobias Böhm, Jens Oelgemöller, Cordelius Ilgmann


Abstract
Walter Eucken was the head of the Freiburg school of economics, a circle of German ordoliberal scholars of the interwar period, whose thoughts were highly influential in the immediate post war period. Being disillusioned by what he called the “age of experiments”- the failure of both classical liberalism and socialism - he formulated eleven principles of institutional design for what he called a market economy, in which competition would not only limit the extent of private economic power, but also lead to an efficient allocation of resources and hence to economic prosperity. Although the principles never received much international attention, in light of recent economic research on both institutions and welfare economics, the essence of Eucken’s work appears to be very modern indeed as it includes aspects such as well-being, individual freedom and sustainability. This paper highlights these parallels and proposes a reformulation of Eucken`s principles against the background of modern economic theory. Based on this reformulation, in a second step we attempt to create an index on the institutional efficiency, which encompasses a broader set of institutions. We thus attempt to make a contribution to the current debate on the efficient design of those institutions that shape economic activity on markets.

Keywords
Institutionenökonomik; Soziale Marktwirtschaft



Publication type
Research article (book contribution)

Peer reviewed
No

Publication status
Published

Year
2012

Book title
Empirische Institutionenökonomik: Konzeptrionelle Fragen und Anwendungen

Editor
Theresia Theurl

Start page
21

End page
43

Volume
334

Title of series
Schriften des Vereins für Socialpolitik

Publisher
Duncker & Humblot

Place
Berlin

Language
German

ISSN
05052777

ISBN
9783428138104