Economics Department Working Paper Series
Working Paper Number
2021-20
Publication Date
2021
Abstract
This paper develops a comparative and connected history of the debates over transition to a market economy in West-Germany after World War II and in China during the first decade of reform and opening up under Deng Xiaoping (1978-1988). At both historical moments the political aim was to reintroduce market mechanisms into a dysfunctional command economy. The question what kind of price reform this required was subject to heated debates among economists. This paper shows how the West-German 1948 currency and price reform was introduced into the Chinese reform debate by German ordoliberals and neoliberals like Friedman. It traces how the West-German case study was mystified as “Erhard Miracle” and became a metaphor for the vision of universal overnight price liberalisation in China – a core element of shock therapy.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/esjy-dd86
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
License
UMass Amherst Open Access Policy
Recommended Citation
Weber, Isabella M., "Shooting for an Economic “Miracle”: German Post-War Neoliberal Thought in China’s Market Reform Debate" (2021). Economics Department Working Paper Series. 317.
https://doi.org/10.7275/esjy-dd86
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