Deutschlands Erfolg zu Zeiten der Eurokrise: Auf Kosten der anderen oder einfach besser als der Rest?

• January 2012
• Tim H. Stuchtey, Chase Gummer

• BIGS Essence Number 7

Among economists and commentators the right way out of the US debt crisis and the euro crisis in Europe is being vehemently discussed. The debate about the right way out is roughly divided into two camps: On the one hand, there are the Keynesians, who want to boost economic growth with the help of government stimulus packages and grow out of national debt. On the other side are the supporters of austerity programmes and a strict austerity course, occasionally derided as Swabian housewives. The dispute was most pointedly exacerbated by Russ Roberts and John Papula in a video that has become very popular on YouTube, in which J. M. Keynes and F. A. von Hayek present the two basic positions in a rap song. In the following we want to show that a third figure must be introduced into this dispute if we want to understand the immensely important position of Germany, especially in the euro crisis. This is represented either by Walter Eucken or Ludwig Erhard. Without an understanding of ordoliberalism – the intellectual foundation of the social market economy – Germany’s actions in the current crisis are difficult to understand.