IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/cuswps/oek30.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

From the "planning euphoria" to the "bitter economic truth": The transmission of economic ideas into German labour market policies in the 1960s and 2000s

Author

Listed:
  • Pühringer, Stephan
  • Griesser, Markus

Abstract

This paper compares the interconnections between dominant economic thought and processes of policy-making in the area of labour market reforms in Germany in the late 1960s and the early 2000s. The transition in labour market policies in this period could be described as a change from an active to an activating approach. At the level of economic discourse these policy changes correspond to a paradigm shift from Keynesian to neoclassical/neoliberal economic thought. We investigated these changes by focussing on two distinct reforms of labour market policies and carried out a critical discourse analysis of the relevant public and academic discourse of economists. We find that the paradigm shift in economic thought was accompanied by a shift in economists' discourses on labour market policy issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Pühringer, Stephan & Griesser, Markus, 2017. "From the "planning euphoria" to the "bitter economic truth": The transmission of economic ideas into German labour market policies in the 1960s and 2000s," Working Paper Serie des Instituts für Ökonomie Ök-30, Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung (HfGG), Institut für Ökonomie.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cuswps:oek30
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/191716/1/wps-oek30.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ulf Rinne & Klaus F Zimmermann, 2013. "Is Germany the North Star of Labor Market Policy?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 702-729, December.
    2. Hayek, F. A., 2012. "Hayek on Hayek," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226321202 edited by Kresge, Stephen & Wenar, Leif, April.
    3. Bruno S. Frey, 2000. "Was Bewirkt die Volkswirtschaftslehre?," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 1(1), pages 5-33, February.
    4. Christian Dustmann & Bernd Fitzenberger & Uta Sch?nberg & Alexandra Spitz-Oener, 2014. "From Sick Man of Europe to Economic Superstar: Germany's Resurgent Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(1), pages 167-188, Winter.
    5. Daniel Stedman Jones, 2012. "Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9827.
    6. Bruno S. Frey & Silke Humbert & Friedrich Schneider, 2007. "Was denken deutsche Ökonomen? Eine empirische Auswertung einer Internetbefragung unter den Mitgliedern des Vereins für Socialpolitik im Sommer 2006," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(4), pages 359-377, November.
    7. Marc Lavoie & Mario Seccareccia (ed.), 2004. "Central Banking in the Modern World," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3297.
    8. Michael T. Belongia & Michelle R. Garfinkel, 1992. "The Business Cycle: Theories and Evidence: Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Economic Policy Conference of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (held October 17-18 1991)," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    9. Olivier Jean Blanchard, 1992. "For a return to pragmatism," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, pages 121-132.
    10. Blaug, Mark, 2003. "The Formalist Revolution of the 1950s," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(2), pages 145-156, June.
    11. Heise, Arne & Thieme, Sebastian, 2016. "The Short Rise and Long Fall of heterodox Economics in germany After the 1970s: Explorations in a Scientific Field of Power and Struggle," MPRA Paper 80022, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Wolfgang Franz, 2000. "Wirtschaftspolitische Beratung: Reminiszenzen und Reflexionen," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 1(1), pages 53-71, February.
    13. R. Glenn Hubbard, 2004. "The Economist as Public Intellectual," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 391-394, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stephan Puehringer & Karl Beyer, 2020. "Who are the economists Germany listens to?," ICAE Working Papers 103, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Heine Klaus & Mause Karsten, 2003. "Politikberatung als informationsökonomisches Problem," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 223(4), pages 479-490, August.
    2. Stephan Puehringer, 2021. "Zur Pluralitaet der oekonomischen Politikberatung in Deutschland," ICAE Working Papers 132, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    3. Ehrich, Malte & Munasib, Abdul & Roy, Devesh, 2018. "The Hartz reforms and the German labor force," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 284-300.
    4. Andrey Launov, 2021. "Working Time Accounts and Turnover," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(3), pages 1025-1056, July.
    5. Fontaine, Philippe & Pooley, Jefferson, 2020. "Introduction: Whose Social Problems?," SocArXiv w59f3, Center for Open Science.
    6. Guler Aras & Paul F. Williams, 2022. "Integrated Reporting and Integrated Thinking: Proposing a Reporting Model That Induces More Responsible Use of Corporate Power," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-19, March.
    7. Jean-Michel Servet & Bruno Tinel, 2020. "The behavioral and neoliberal foundations of randomizations," Post-Print halshs-02562758, HAL.
    8. Stephan Schulmeister, 2018. "From Prosperity into the Crisis and Back. On the Role of Economic Theories in the Long Cycle," WIFO Working Papers 571, WIFO.
    9. Justus Haucap, 2020. "Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Politikberatung in Deutschland: Stärken, Schwächen, Optimierungspotenzial," Springer Books, in: Dirk Loerwald (ed.), Ökonomische Erkenntnisse verständlich vermitteln, pages 45-78, Springer.
    10. Bod’a, Martin & Považanová, Mariana, 2021. "Output-unemployment asymmetry in Okun coefficients for OECD countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 307-323.
    11. Stephan Puehringer & Karl Beyer, 2020. "Who are the economists Germany listens to?," ICAE Working Papers 103, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    12. Styhre Alexander, 2018. "The Making of the Shareholder Primacy Governance Model: Price Theory, the Law and Economics School, and Corporate Law Retrenchment Advocacy," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 8(3), pages 1-31, December.
    13. Alexander Spermann, 2015. "How to fight long-term unemployment: lessons from Germany," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Andrew Farrant, 2019. "What Should (Knightian) Economists Do? James M. Buchanan's 1980 Visit to Chile," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(3), pages 691-714, January.
    15. C. J. Polychroniou, 2013. "Toward a Post-Keynesian Political Economy for the 21st Century: General Reflections and Considerations on an Era Ripe for Change," Economics Policy Note Archive 13-02, Levy Economics Institute.
    16. João Márcio Mendes Pereira, 2020. "The World Bank's ‘Assault on Poverty’ as a Political Question (1968–81)," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(6), pages 1401-1428, November.
    17. Ötsch, Walter & Pühringer, Stephan, 2019. "The anti-democratic logic of right-wing populism and neoliberal market-fundamentalism," Working Paper Serie des Instituts für Ökonomie Ök-48, Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung (HfGG), Institut für Ökonomie.
    18. Ghosh, Sugata & Mitra, Anirban, 2022. "Ethnic identities, public spending and political regimes," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 256-279.
    19. Mathieu Segers, 2019. "Eclipsing Atlantis: Trans‐Atlantic Multilateralism in Trade and Monetary Affairs as a Pre‐History to the Genesis of Social Market Europe (1942–1950)," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 60-76, January.
    20. Holtemöller, Oliver & Brautzsch, Hans-Ulrich & Drechsel, Katja & Drygalla, Andrej & Giesen, Sebastian & Hennecke, Peter & Kiesel, Konstantin & Loose, Brigitte & Meier, Carsten-Patrick & Zeddies, Götz, 2015. "Ökonomische Wirksamkeit der Konjunktur stützenden finanzpolitischen Maßnahmen der Jahre 2008 und 2009. Forschungsvorhaben im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums der Finanzen," IWH Online 4/2015, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    critical discourse analysis; political power of economic ideas; labour market policy reforms; economic expert discourse;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • B21 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Microeconomics
    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics
    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • J88 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Public Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:cuswps:oek30. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hfgg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.