Walter Eucken
Walter Eucken | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 January 1891 |
| Died | 20 March 1950 (aged 59) |
| Nationality | German Empire |
| Academic career | |
| Field | Macroeconomics |
| School or tradition | Ordoliberalism |
| Contributions | Social market economy |
Walter Eucken (17 January 1891 – 20 March 1950) was a German economist and father of ordoliberalism. His name is closely linked with the development of the "social market economy".
Life
Walter Eucken was born in Jena, Thuringia. His father was the philosopher Rudolf Eucken, who won the 1908 Nobel Prize in Literature.
At first more interested in history, Walter Eucken chose to study economics in Kiel, Jena and Bonn. He graduated in 1913, shortly before he had to serve as officer at the fronts of World War I. In 1921, Eucken got his first professorship in Berlin. In 1927 he moved to Freiburg, where he was professor of economics until his death. During the Nazi period, Eucken was associated to the resistance movement (Freiburg Bonhoeffer Circle).
In 1954, four years after Eucken's death, a group of friends and former students founded the Walter Eucken Institut. Its president is James M. Buchanan since 2004.
Theory
Eucken's ordoliberalism, which is the German variant of neoliberalism, claims that the state has the task to provide the political framework for economic freedom, in contrast to laissez-faire. This includes a legal and institutional framework, including maintenance of private property, enforcement of private contracts, liability, free entry, and monetary stabilization. In this, the state should refrain from directing or intervening in the economic processes of daily practices, as in a centrally planned economy (Molsberger, 2008).
The idea of ordoliberalism was introduced for the first time in 1937 in Ordnung der Wirtschaft, a periodical published by Walter Eucken, Franz Böhm and Hans Großmann-Doerth. From 1948 on it was further developed in the journal ORDO.
References
Josef Molsberger, [1987] 2008. "Eucken, Walter (1891–1950)," The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Ed.
External links
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