Vorsprung durch Technik R.I.P.

Daniel Johnson

Kaput: The End of the German Miracle Wolfgang Münchau (Swift, £20) FEW CATCHPHRASES HAVE ENJOYED AS long a shelf-life as the “German economic miracle”. Even though Wirtschaftswunder sounds better in German, the connotations of the miraculous were disliked by Ludwig Erhard, the hard-headed economics minister who masterminded the post-war West German recovery. Though he used it on the cover of his 1954 book Germany’s Comeback in the World Market, Erhard preferred his own term: “social market economy”. In his 1958 book Prosperity through Competition, Erhard insisted: “I do not believe that the idea of ‘a German miracle’ should be allowed to establish itself.” The German example merely proved “to the world at large the blessings of both personal and economic freedom”. Nevertheless, “German economic miracle” is still widely used to…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, November 2024

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