Reassessing the Wirtschaftswunder: Reconstruction and Postwar Growth in West Germany in an International Context

Rolf H Dumke

Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 1990, vol. 52, issue 4, 451-91

Abstract: This paper presents a test of the reconstruction thesis, a paradigm of postwar growth in West Germany, to explain long run growth, 1950-80, in a sample of 16 rich OECD countries, in competition with the technology gap argument. The regression results suggest that both causes of growth contribute substantially to convergence growth in this sample. The notion of reconstruction growth--its definition, theory and length of operation--is critically discussed. It is suggested that the dynamics of reconstruction growth which result from the disproportionality between human and physical capital, caused by warindued shocks and destruction, may best be understood by appeal to the mechanics of the newer growth theories. Copyright 1990 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Date: 1990
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:obuest:v:52:y:1990:i:4:p:451-91

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0305-9049

Access Statistics for this article

Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics is currently edited by Christopher Adam, Anindya Banerjee, Christopher Bowdler, David Hendry, Adriaan Kalwij, John Knight and Jonathan Temple

More articles in Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics from Department of Economics, University of Oxford Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().