IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/irapec/v32y2018i5p569-588.html

How Germany’s anti-Keynesianism has brought Europe to its knees

Author

Listed:
  • Jörg Bibow

Abstract

This paper investigates the (lack of any lasting) impact of John Maynard Keynes’s General Theory on economic policy-making in Germany. The analysis highlights the interplay between economic history and the history of ideas in shaping policy-making in postwar (West) Germany. The paper argues that Germany learned the wrong lessons from its own history and misread the true sources of its postwar success. Monetary mythology and the Bundesbank, with its distinctive anti-inflationary bias, feature prominently in this collective odyssey. The analysis shows that the crisis of the euro today is largely the consequence of Germany’s peculiar anti-Keynesianism.

Suggested Citation

  • Jörg Bibow, 2018. "How Germany’s anti-Keynesianism has brought Europe to its knees," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(5), pages 569-588, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:irapec:v:32:y:2018:i:5:p:569-588
    DOI: 10.1080/02692171.2017.1369938
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02692171.2017.1369938
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/02692171.2017.1369938?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Michalis Nikiforos & Gennaro Zezza, 2017. "Towards an Understanding of the Greek Crisis and the Flawed Analyses of the Levy Economics Institute’s Publications: A Reply," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(3), pages 311-314, July.
    2. Jörg Bibow, 2018. "Unconventional monetary policies and central bank profits," IMK Studies 62-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    3. Jörg Bibow, 2019. "20 years of the German euro are more than enough," Revista de Economia Critica, Universidad Pablo de Olavide y Asociacion de Economia Critica, vol. 27, pages 32-46.
    4. Sascha Keil & Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2024. "Kaldorian cumulative causation in the Euro area: an empirical assessment of divergent export competitiveness," Chemnitz Economic Papers 063, Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology.
    5. Francesco Zezza & Gennaro Zezza, 2025. "Growth vs. Discipline: Italy's Fiscal Dilemmas in a Stock-Flow Consistent Model," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_1082, Levy Economics Institute.
    6. George K. Zestos & Rachel N. Cooke, 2020. "Challenges for the EU as Germany Approaches Recession," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_948, Levy Economics Institute.
    7. George Zestos & Morgan H. Simmons, 2018. "Why a Eurozone Collapse should not be a Surprise: The Role of Germany and Greece," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 71(3), pages 227-256.
    8. Stefano Figuera & Guglielmo Forges Davanzati & Andrea Pacella, 2022. "Considerations on the Legacy of Ordoliberalism in European Monetary Policy," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2022(2), pages 95-122.
    9. Feld, Lars P. & Köhler, Ekkehard A. & Nientiedt, Daniel, 2021. "The German Anti-Keynes? On Walter Eucken’S Macroeconomics," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(4), pages 548-563, December.
    10. Sébastien Charles & Thomas Dallery & Jonathan Marie, 2021. "Covid-19 and interweaving of crises: Restoring Keynesianism in order to rebuild macroeconomic policy [Covid-19 et imbrication des crises : réhabiliter le keynésianisme pour refonder la politique macroéconomique]," Post-Print hal-03148074, HAL.
    11. repec:osf:osfxxx:bs3w5_v1 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
    • N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-

    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:taf:irapec:v:32:y:2018:i:5:p:569-588. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CIRA20 .

    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.