Editing Neoliberalism (section)

=== Germany ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F015320-0010, Ludwig Erhard.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ludwig Erhard]]]]

Neoliberal ideas were first implemented in [[West Germany]]. The economists around [[Ludwig Erhard]] drew on the theories they had developed in the 1930s and 1940s and contributed to West Germany's reconstruction after the Second World War.{{sfnp|Hartwich|2009|p=22}} Erhard was a member of the Mont Pelerin Society and in constant contact with other neoliberals. He pointed out that he is commonly classified as neoliberal and that he accepted this classification.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ludwig |last=Erhard |author-link=Ludwig Erhard |chapter-url=http://www.franz-oppenheimer.de/le64a.htm |chapter=Franz Oppenheimer, dem Lehrer und Freund |language=de |trans-chapter=Franz Oppenheimer, the teacher and friend |editor-first=Ludwig |editor-last=Erhard |editor-link=Ludwig Erhard |title=Gedanken aus fünf Jahrzehnten, Reden und Schriften |trans-title=Thoughts from five decades, speeches and writings |publisher=Karl Hohmann |location=Düsseldorf |date=1988 |page=861 |quote=Rede zu Oppenheimers 100. Geburtstag, gehalten in der Freien Universität Berlin (1964). |trans-quote=Speech on Oppenheimer's 100th birthday, held at the Freie Universität Berlin (1964). |isbn=9783430125390}}</ref>

The [[ordoliberal]] [[Freiburg School]] was more pragmatic. The German neoliberals accepted the classical liberal notion that competition drives economic prosperity. However, they argued that a ''laissez-faire'' state policy stifles competition, as the strong devour the weak since monopolies and cartels could pose a threat to freedom of competition. They supported the creation of a well-developed legal system and capable regulatory apparatus. While still opposed to full-scale Keynesian employment policies or an extensive [[welfare state]], German neoliberal theory was marked by the willingness to place [[Humanistic capitalism|humanistic]] and social values on par with economic efficiency. [[Alfred Müller-Armack]] coined the phrase "social market economy" to emphasize the [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian]] and humanistic bent of the idea.{{sfnp|Boas|Gans-Morse|2009}} According to Boas and Gans-Morse, [[Walter Eucken]] stated that "social security and social justice are the greatest concerns of our time".{{sfnp|Boas|Gans-Morse|2009}}

[[File:Marshallplanhilfe.gif|thumb|left|upright|Builders in [[West Berlin]], 1952]]

Erhard emphasized that the market was inherently social and did not need to be made so.{{sfnp|Hartwich|2009|p={{page needed|date=May 2023}} }} He hoped that growing prosperity would enable the population to manage much of their social security by self-reliance and end the necessity for a widespread welfare state. By the name of ''Volkskapitalismus'', there were some efforts to foster private savings. Although average contributions to the public old age insurance were quite small, it remained by far the most important old age income source for a majority of the German population, therefore despite liberal rhetoric the 1950s witnessed what has been called a "reluctant expansion of the welfare state". To end widespread poverty among the elderly the pension reform of 1957 brought a significant extension of the German welfare state which already had been established under [[Otto von Bismarck]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Werner |last=Abelshauser |title=Deutsche Wirtschaftsgeschichte seit 1945 |language=de |trans-title=German economic history since 1945 |publisher=C.H. Beck |date=2011 |isbn=978-3-406-510946 |page=192}}</ref> Rüstow, who had coined the label "neoliberalism", criticized that development tendency and pressed for a more limited welfare program.{{sfnp|Hartwich|2009|p={{page needed|date=May 2023}}}}

Hayek did not like the expression "social market economy", but stated in 1976 that some of his friends in Germany had succeeded in implementing the sort of social order for which he was pleading while using that phrase. In Hayek's view, the social market economy's aiming for both a market economy and [[social justice]] was a muddle of inconsistent aims.<ref>{{cite book |first=Josef |last=Drexl |title=Die wirtschaftliche Selbstbestimmung des Verbrauchers |language=de |trans-title=The economic self-determination of the consumer |publisher=J.C.B. Mohr |date=1998 |isbn=3-16-146938-0 |chapter=Freiheitssicherung auch gegen den Sozialstaat |trans-chapter=Safeguarding freedom also against the welfare state |page=144}}</ref> Despite his controversies with the German neoliberals at the Mont Pelerin Society, [[Ludwig von Mises]] stated that Erhard and Müller-Armack accomplished a great act of liberalism to restore the German economy and called this "a lesson for the US".<ref>{{cite book |first=Ralf |last=Ptak |title=Vom Ordoliberalismus zur Sozialen Marktwirtschaft: Stationen des Neoliberalismus in Deutschland |language=de |trans-title=From Ordoliberalism to the Social Market economy: Stations of Neoliberalism in Germany |date=2004 |pages=18–19}}</ref> According to different research Mises believed that the ordoliberals were hardly better than socialists. As an answer to Hans Hellwig's complaints about the interventionist excesses of the Erhard ministry and the ordoliberals, Mises wrote: "I have no illusions about the true character of the politics and politicians of the social market economy". According to Mises, Erhard's teacher [[Franz Oppenheimer]] "taught more or less the [[New Frontier]] line of" [[John F Kennedy|President Kennedy's]] "Harvard consultants ([[Arthur M. Schlesinger|Schlesinger]], [[John Kenneth Galbraith|Galbraith]], etc.)".<ref>{{cite book |first=Jörg Guido |last=Hülsmann |author-link=Jörg Guido Hülsmann |title=Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism |year=2007 |isbn=978-1933550183 |pages=1007–08|publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute }}</ref>

In Germany, neoliberalism at first was synonymous with both ordoliberalism and social market economy. But over time the original term neoliberalism gradually disappeared since social market economy was a much more positive term and fit better into the {{lang|de|[[Wirtschaftswunder]]}} (economic miracle) mentality of the 1950s and 1960s.{{sfnp|Hartwich|2009|p={{page needed|date=May 2023}}}}