Chapters

Abstract | This chapter investigates the content and significance of The Social Crisis of Our Time by Wilhelm Röpke, and shows why this 1942 book can be regarded as a pivotal contribution within the broader context of his work. In this book, Röpke found his definitive voice, that of an economist-doctor keen to prevent the general collapse of Western civilisation. Röpke outlined a historical interpretation of the present, locating the origin of interwar collectivism in the flawed liberalism of the past century. In his view, the way out of this fatal dialectic was through a new—third—way, combining liberal interventionism with social reformism and sociological conservativism.

Abstract | This chapter explores how Walter Eucken situated himself in respect to John Maynard Keynes’s thought. It will be shown in particular that Keynes and Eucken were less alien to one another that is commonly assumed in the secondary literature. By considering together Keynes and Eucken’s letters to Hayek in response to The Road to Serfdom (1944), a somehow shared criticism is revealed. Keynes and Eucken both notably concentrated on the state positive assignments in order to ensure the proper functioning of a decentralized market economy. Moreover, there was a significant parallel in both methodological and theoretical arguments. Eventually, the Keynes/Eucken contrast proved meaningful for those who wanted to shed light on how they both left such a long-lasting mark on post-WWII European Liberalism.

Abstract | This chapter offers a comparison of John M. Keynes and Walter Eucken from what can be broadly described as a political economy viewpoint. Apart from a few comments, this comparison appears fairly unexplored. While they never met, nor effectively had occasion to converse, their rivalry eventually extended beyond the individual level to embody two post-war economic programmes: namely Keynesianism in Great Britain (and the USA) versus ordoliberalism in West Germany (and later the European Union). Why did their two supposedly "new" liberal ways point at so different—albeit influential—post-World War II programmes? My contention is that elements of the response can be found by considering together theoretical conceptions and national and international contextual points related to the question of power in modern capitalist society.

Abstract | This chapter examines the difficulties of the commonly encountered qualification that Wilhelm Röpke's early work is "proto-Keynesian." By focusing on his 1936 Crises and Cycles and previous publications, Fèvre shows that Röpke attempted a synthesis by drawing upon various inspirations in business cycle theory. The major impulses stemmed from J.M. Keynes, with concepts from the period before his General Theory, and F.A. Hayek, both of whom in Fèvre's assessment were equally important for Röpke regarding different phases of the business cycle. Röpke’s innovative approach to the secondary depression and "liberal interventionism" as a possible solution for this depression type receive further attention. Moreover, Röpke's political insights from the same publications help to understand why Röpke's latest works were characterized by such a virulent anti-Keynesianism..

Abstract | This chapter focuses on the early years of the German post-war economy (1945–1950). My aim is to highlight the back and forth between the ordoliberal stance on their contemporary German situation on the one hand, and their theoretical analysis of centrally administrated economy on the other. I do so by reconstructing the argumentation they developed in the period immediately before the currency and liberalisation reforms of June 1948. I conclude that some aspects that qualified ordoliberalism as a serious competitor to Keynesianism in Germany can be found both in their historical analysis and in the way they appreciate practical economic policy.