The history of the concept of social market economy in Germany

The monograph traces the history of the development of German neoliberal economic thought from the origins of the Freiburg School in the 1930s to the first results of the practical implementation of the concept of a social market economy in West Germany in the late 1940s-early 1960s. The author demonstrates the broad historical context of the development of German ideas about the theory and practice of the policy of order (Ordnungstheorie und Ordnungspolitik), shows the features of the formation and spread of the scientific and intellectual economic tradition in Germany, as well as beyond its borders, starting with the birth of the German historical school and the perception of its heritage by Russian socio-economic thought in the second half of the XIX — early XX century and ending with the practical implementation of the concept of order of the Freiburg school and the correlation of its ideological and spiritual and moral foundations with the social teaching of Catholicism and liberalism of Friedrich von Hayek. Special attention is paid to some controversial issues of the formation of the theory of ordoliberalism during the period of national socialism and the problems of the social market economy in modern Germany. The book is intended to fill the shortage of specialized scientific literature on relevant issues and to acquaint the Russian reader, primarily students, teachers and researchers, with the variety of ideological and scientific-theoretical foundations of the socio-economic system of the post-war Germany.

The concept of Ordnungspolitik: rule-based economic policymaking from the perspective of the Freiburg School

Should economic policy be guided by rules? In this paper, we take the perspective of the Freiburg School and trace its argument for rule-based Ordnungspolitik back to the roots of the concept. In doing so, will not offer a comprehensive review of the literature, but argue closely along the works of Walter Eucken, whose contributions are central to understanding the founding generation of the Freiburg School. We argue that not having rules is costly and therefore that the main thrust of the Freiburg approach remains valid. Good empirical arguments can be found for pursuing a rule-based Ordnungspolitik in order to avoid the costs of discretionary policymaking. Furthermore, we argue that reliance on stable rules does not incapacitate democratic decision-making. Rules rely on democratic support, and rule-based Ordnungspolitik also leaves substantial material scope for discretionary democratic decision-making.

The ideological use and abuse of Freiburg’s ordoliberalism

In the aftermath of the Eurozone crisis, a battle of ideas emerged over whether ordoliberalism is part of the cause or the solution of economic problems in Europe. While German ordoliberals argued that their policy proposals were largely ignored before, during and after the crisis, critics saw too much ordoliberal influence, especially in form of austerity policies. We argue that neither view is entirely correct. Instead, we observe that the battle of ideas is largely independent of the countries’ actual responses to the Eurozone crisis: pragmatic self-interest on behalf of governments rather than their ideological convictions played a crucial role in political reactions. We explain this dynamic game-theoretically and highlight a number of reasons for the decoupling of the political-pragmatic debate from the ideological-academic discourse. In addition, we argue that ordoliberals themselves contributed to the ideological misuse of their own program: the ordoliberal Freiburg School ceased to be an active research program and instead grew to resemble a tradition which all too often disregarded the international academic discourse, in particular in macroeconomics. As a result, ordoliberal thinking was abused by its proponents and critics alike to emphasize their preconceived Weltanschauung (worldview). We end our paper with some thoughts on how a contemporary ordoliberalism can be constructively used to react to some of the challenges of the ongoing Eurozone crisis.

Ordoliberalism: neither exclusively German nor an oddity. A review essay of Malte Dold’s and Tim Krieger’s Ordoliberalism and European Economic Policy: Between Realpolitik and Economic Utopia.

The German intellectual tradition of ordoliberalism, a variant of neoliberalism particularly committed to a “functional and humane order,” was long ignored in the Anglo-Saxon world. More recently, this has changed to some degree, especially under the impression of the European sovereign-debt crisis, during which Germany’s insistence on rule-abiding behavior was critically attributed to the ordoliberal heritage. In the anthology edited by Malte Dold and Tim Krieger, ordoliberalism is discussed from many different angles, including the historical roots in the Freiburg School, the recent much-disputed strategies for dealing with the eurozone crisis, and a further development of the research program. The editors argue that scholarship in the spirit of ordoliberalism would benefit from being embedded within the interdisciplinary scientific cluster of Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). The book makes a valuable contribution to a better-informed international discourse across the disciplines.

Economics and Economic Order of Societies

Departing from the distinction proposed by J. Buchanan between thinking in economics in terms of the theory of choice and analysis in categories of exchange and coordination, we claim that the Hayekian concept of economic order has a significant heuristic potential and can be fruitfully used to explain some important socio-economic phenomena. The goal of this paper is to confirm this claim through the application of the concept of economic order in the analysis of economic transformation and the discussion of the relation between economic order and moral norms. The paper is organised as follows. Section I contains introductory remarks. In section II, the two systems of economic thinking and reasoning: the theory of choice and analysis in categories of exchange and coordination are briefly presented. Section III contains a discussion of the concept of economic order, its origin, relation to the Freiburg School notion Ordo, and J. Buchanan’s perspective on the market and exchange. In section IV, two areas of the application of the concept of economic order are presented: a) systemic transformation as a change in formal and informal institutions, their subjective representation by economic agents and the complex economic order, b) a relation between economic order and moral norms. Conclusions are drawn in section V.

Franco Volpi, «Hermética versus Hermenéutica. Sobre el intento de Heinrich Rombach de sobrepasar el pensar de Heidegger. Y la carta con la respuesta de Rombach.»

RESUMENEl artículo que se presenta aquí traducido se editó en alemán en un volumen homenaje al filósofo Heinrich Rombach, quien se ha sabido unido a la «escuela de Freiburg » (en Briesgau) y determinado por la conexión entre Husserl y Heidegger, que, a pesar de las diferencias, es Fenomenología. Amigos, colegas y discípulos del profesor Rombach, por entonces profesor activo de la Universidad de Würzburg, dejaron en ese volumen huellas de haber oteado brechas y caminos muy distintos, en pos de alcanzar espacios abiertos, libres y diversos, propios de un filosofar que se sabe estructural, intermundano e intercultural. La participación de Franco Volpi, que se concentró en el Welt und Gegenwelt de Rombach, caminó a la par de quienes transitaron el primero de los tres movimientos, que emprendió la filosofía de Rombach y que se llama Hermética filosófica. Inspirado, pues, por la lectura del Welt und Gegenwelt, Volpi defiende que con el proyecto de la hermética el pensar de Rombach aventaja, de modo radical, la Zeitkritik de Heidegger de los fundamentos epocales, en cuyo caso el profesor italiano pone a consideración el aporte de la Hermética en la tradición de la filosofía alemana, que alcanza al fundador de la escuela hermeneútica. La carta de respuesta de Rombach, por su lado, desmiente el haber tenido que ver con la Zeitkritik heideggeriana, y lleva a primer plano lo fundamental del fenómeno hermético, esto es, la unidad inmediata e inseparable de ser humano y realidad, lo cual acontece como el respectivo caminar juntos o a la par, y sería algo con lo cual se topa quien lo pueda ver. Hermética sería entonces el arte de ver esa unidad inmediata.PALABRAS CLAVEROMBACH–HERMÉTICA–HERMENEÚTICA–FENOMENOLOGÍA–CONCREATIVO.ABSTRACTThis is a translation of an article originally published in German in a special issue dedicated to philosopher Heinrich Rombach. Rombach identified himself as a member of the “Freiburg School” in Breisgau, and delimited by the connection between Husserl and Heidegger, which, despite their differences is Phenomenology. Friends, colleagues and disciples of Professor Rombach, who was back then an active Professor at the University of Würzburg, left traces in this volume of having glimpsed very different paths and gaps in the pursuit of reaching free, open and diverse spaces, characteristic of a structural, intermundane, and intercultural way of doing philosophy. Franco Volpi’s contribution moved along others who focused on the Rombach`s Welt und Gegenwelt, following the first of three movements undertaken by Rombach`s philosophy, namely philosophical Hermetics. Inspired by Welt und Gegenwelt, Volpi claims that with the hermetic project, the thought of Rombach surpasses, in a radical way, the Heideggerian Zeitkritik, and so the Italian Professor examines the contribution of the Hermetics in the tradition of German philosophy, that includes the founder of the school of hermeneutics. The letter with Rombach`s reply to Volpi`s claim, on the other hand, denies Rombach`s involvement with the Zeikritik. Instead, Rombach emphasizes the centrality of the hermetic phenomenon, that is, the immediate and inseparable unity of human being and reality, which happens as they respectively move along together or at the same time, understood by Rombach as a special discover for who can grasp it. According to this, Hermetic is the art of seeing that immediate unity.KEYWORDSROMBACH–HERMETICS–HERMENEUTICS–PHENOMENOLOGY–CONCREATIVE