Understanding West German economic growth in the 1950s

Eichengreen, Barry and Ritschl, Albrecht ORCID: 0000-0003-0856-9704 (2008) Understanding West German economic growth in the 1950s. Economic History Working Papers. Department of Economic History, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

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Abstract

We evaluate explanations for why Germany grew so quickly in the 1950s. The recent literature has emphasized convergence, structural change and institutional shake-up while minimizing the importance of the post-war shock. We show that this shock and its consequences were more important than neoclassical convergence and structural change in explaining the rapid growth of the West German economy in the 1950s. We find little support for the hypothesis of institutional shakeup. This suggests a different interpretation of post-World War II German economic growth than features in much of the literature.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL:	http://www2.lse.ac.uk/economicHistory/workingPaper...
Additional Information:	© 2008 Barry Eichengreen & Albrecht Ritschl
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions D History General and Old World > DD Germany
Date Deposited:	29 Jan 2009 18:35
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2024 18:52
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/22304

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