Reprint of the original, first published in 1838.

The post-war emergence of West Germany as the dominant economic power in Europe gave rise to the mythology of the 'economic miracle' and the model policies of the 'social market economy'. This study reveals a mundane reality of class politics in which democratic institutions have become increasingly marginalised by big capital and by an unelected central bank. Economic policy has failed to halt the recent slide into mass unemployment and has reverted optimistically to the plan-less export drives of the fifties. The absence of the earlier advantages, the author claims, bodes ill for the future of 'model Germany'.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1980.

This new volume situates current debates about economic reform in Germany in illuminating historical and structural contexts. Showing how economic reform has become the central issue on the German political agenda, raising contentious issues of policy management and posing deeper questions about political beliefs and identities. It also examines the politics of the reform process, outlining competing views about the root causes of Germany’s economic problems, the appropriate policy responses, and the distribution of costs. It situates the reform process in the wider context of the decline of the German economic model (Modell Deutschland) and Germany’s transition from European ‘pace-setter’ to economic ‘laggard’. Particular attention is paid to the following key questions: What continuities and discontinuities can be seen in Germany's political economy? Are globalization and Europeanization associated with a progressive neo-liberal ascendancy in economic reform? How does economic reform in Germany compare with that in other states, notably Britain and France? Are there distinctive patterns in the way domestic policymakers negotiate economic reform? How do the characteristics of the German labour market and welfare state condition economic reform? How much variation exists at the Laender levels? This book was previously published as a special issue of German Politics.

This 2001 edition of OECD's periodic review of Germany's economy examines recent economic developments, policies and prospects and includes special features on public spending reform and structural reform.

Originally published in 1981 but now with a new preface, this volume provided the first detailed comparative analysis of how local authorities in the UK and W. Germany faced up to the challenge of trying to help local industry and improve employment prospects. Based on the results of case-studies the book considers the powers and resources available to local authorities and examines how the authorities are organized for this type of economic activity. The authors' analysis of the interplay of political and administrative factors will be particularly important for student and professionals in comparative public policy and public finance. The study shows how economic policy making in local government is constrained both by the higher levels of government in both countries and by the conditions in the economy operating both locally and nationally.

The essays in this volume have been translated from the German to bring to the notice of a wider public the contemporary views of a group of prominent German economists and lawyers who have all participated in the development of post-war economic policy in the Federal Republic of Germany.

While unification has undoubtedly had major effects on Germany's political economy, the pattern of current policy-making preferences was established at an earlier stage, in particular, at the beginning of the 'Kohl-era' in 1982. This essentially neo-liberal pattern can be seen to have dominated the modalities chosen to guide Germany through the process of unifi cation and was mirrored in developments in other OECD countries and in particular within the EU. This book demonstrates that the three policy imperatives (neo-liberal structural reform, European monetary integration, and unification) produced a policy-mix which, together with other structural economic and demographic factors, has had disappointing results in all three areas and hampered Germany's overall economic development.