The German anti-Keynes? On Walter Eucken's macroeconomics

Lars Feld, Ekkehard Köhler and Daniel Nientiedt

No 18/11, Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics from Walter Eucken Institut e.V.

Abstract: Germany's approach to solving the Eurozone crisis is supposedly based on the ideas of Walter Eucken (1891-1950), the founder of ordoliberalism. In this and other contexts, Eucken's work has been described as being in direct opposition to that of John Maynard Keynes. Our paper aims to clarify and differentiate the relationship between the two scholars by making two main points. First, we show that Eucken supported a proto-Keynesian stimulus programme at the height of the Great Depression, the so-called Lautenbach plan of 1931. Second, we critically examine Eucken's description of 'full employment policy', a strategy with obvious parallels to Keynesian economic policy. Additionally, the paper maintains that when comparing Eucken and Keynes, more emphasis should be given to the fact that the former favours a rule-based rather than discretionary approach to policy-making.

Keywords: Ordoliberalism; Eurozone Crisis; Monetary Policy; Fiscal Policy; History of Economic Thought (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B31 D78 E63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-his and nep-hpe
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: THE GERMAN ANTI-KEYNES? ON WALTER EUCKEN’S MACROECONOMICS (2021)
Working Paper: THE GERMAN ANTI-KEYNES? ON WALTER EUCKEN’S MACROECONOMICS (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:aluord:1811

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