Die Republik der Wirtschaft

Knut Wolfgang Nörr presents a legal history of the Federal Republic of Germany, from its origins up to the Grand Coalition, as seen in the context of its economic system and constitution. He shows the development of a 'two-lane' economic system in the Federal Republic between the Weimar tradition and the new ordoliberalism, which was stabilized by the broad, consensus-producing principle of social market economy. He analyzes inter alia the origins of various basic statutes, the independence of the federal bank, and the unions' struggle for co-determination. The fundamental, though unsolved problem of economic power may be called the leitmotif of the study.