Understanding West German Economic Growth in the 1950s
Abstract
We evaluate explanations for why Germany grew so quickly in the 1950s. The recent litera- ture has emphasized convergence, structural change and institutional shake-up while minimiz- ing the importance of the postwar 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.Download Info
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Paper provided by Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany in its series SFB 649 Discussion Papers with number SFB649DP2008-068.Length: 56 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2008-068
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Related research
Keywords: economic growth; productivity; Germany;Other versions of this item:
- Barry Eichengreen & Albrecht Ritschl, 2009. "Understanding West German economic growth in the 1950s," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 3(3), pages 191-219, October.
- Eichengreen, Barry & Ritschl, Albrecht, 2008. "Understanding West German economic growth in the 1950s," Economic History Working Papers 22304, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
- N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-
- N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-
- O52 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2008-12-07 (All new papers)
- NEP-FDG-2008-12-07 (Financial Development & Growth)
- NEP-HIS-2008-12-07 (Business, Economic & Financial History)
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Madsen, Jakob B., 2010.
"Growth and capital deepening since 1870: Is it all technological progress?,"
Journal of Macroeconomics,
Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 641-656, June.
- Jakob B. Madsen, 2009. "Growth And Capital Deepening Since 1870: Is It All Technological Progress?," Monash Economics Working Papers 10-09, Monash University, Department of Economics.
- Braun, Sebastian & Kvasnicka, Michael, 2012.
"Immigration and Structural Change: Evidence from Post-War Germany,"
IZA Discussion Papers
6690, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Sebastian Braun & Michael Kvasnicka, 2012. "Immigration and Structural Change – Evidence from Post-war Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 0345, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
- Sebastian Braun, Michael Kvasnicka, 2012. "Immigration and Structural Change: Evidence from Post-war Germany," Kiel Working Papers 1778, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
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