Die Finanzmarktkrise als Legitimitätskrise des Kapitalismus: Überlegungen zu (allzu) menschlichem Handeln in Wirtschaft und Politik / The Financial Crisis as a Crisis of the Legitimacy of Capitalism

In Germany as well as in most of Continental Europe capitalism has never been popular. At first, prosperity and the welfare state, then globalization and the financial crisis contributed to this lack of legitimacy. For some time government and the state will gain in legitimacy because of the financial and economic crisis, although the financial crisis has been caused by government failure more than by market failure. Monetary policy, distorted incentives in American real estate markets and regulatory deficits contributed to the crisis. By poorly understood innovations in capital markets bankers contributed to the crisis, too. The errors committed by politicians and bankers should remind one of the fallibility of human beings. Principal-agent-problems add another layer of complexity. Transferring ever more tasks from the private economy to government implies hopes for the wisdom of governmental decisions, for the altruism and paternalism of politicians which are likely to overburden them. Professional economists deliver only disputed and contradictory recommendations. Moreover, even where professional advice is unambiguous, politicians find it hard to heed it.