„Wettbewerb als Aufgabe“ - Leonhard Mikschs Beitrag zur Ordnungstheorie und -politik

The Freiburg economist Leonhard Miksch’s (1901-1950) ideas on Ordnungstheorie and Ordnungspolitik have so far received little attention in the discussion of Ordoliberalism. This is surprising as Miksch provides insights into the debates within the Freiburg School in its early phase and, moreover, gave impulses that were essential to the further development of this economic approach. In addition, as a close advisor to Ludwig Erhard, his influence on German post-war economic policy was considerable.This contribution reconstructs Miksch’s thinking on Ordnungsokonomik. First the focus is on the debate on the combination of market forms and market constitution as analysed by Miksch primarily in his habilitation thesis on “Wettbewerb als Aufgabe” (“Competition as Task”), supervised by Eucken and published in 1937. Subsequently, connections are established between these early ideas and his later, mostly post-war studies in which the organising principles of internal and external co-ordination acquire central importance. It can be shown that his ideas on economic policy culminating in the reference model of „Als-Ob-Wettbewerb“ (“competition as-if”) as well as the connection he established with the economic foundation of democracy are of enduring relevance.