IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/mpifgd/191.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The German undervaluation regime under Bretton Woods: How Germany became the nightmare of the world economy

Author

Listed:
  • Höpner, Martin

Abstract

Germany is an undervaluation regime, a regime that steers economic behavior towards deterioration of the real exchange rate and thereby towards export surpluses. This regime has brought the eurozone to the brink of collapse. But it is much older than the euro. It was established during the Bretton Woods years and has survived all subsequent European currency orders. The regime operates in two steps: competitive disinflation against trading partners; and resistance against correcting revaluations. The Bretton Woods order provided perfect conditions for the establishment and perpetuation of the regime: it was flexible enough for sufficient macroeconomic policy autonomy to bring about differential inflation rates, and sticky enough to delay and minimize revaluations.

Suggested Citation

  • Höpner, Martin, 2019. "The German undervaluation regime under Bretton Woods: How Germany became the nightmare of the world economy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 19/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:191
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/192948/1/1048629295.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alex Cukierman, 1992. "Central Bank Strategy, Credibility, and Independence: Theory and Evidence," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262031981, December.
    2. Rahlf, Thomas (Ed.), 2015. "Deutschland in Daten. Zeitreihen zur Historischen Statistik," EconStor Research Reports 124185, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    3. C. Randall Henning, 1994. "Currencies and Politics in the United States, Germany, and Japan," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 15, October.
    4. Lucio Baccaro & Jonas Pontusson, 2016. "Rethinking Comparative Political Economy," Politics & Society, , vol. 44(2), pages 175-207, June.
    5. Streeck, Wolfgang & Mertens, Daniel, 2010. "Politik im Defizit: Austerität als fiskalpolitisches Regime," MPIfG Discussion Paper 10/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Alison Johnston & Aidan Regan, 2016. "European Monetary Integration and the Incompatibility of National Varieties of Capitalism," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 318-336, March.
    7. Streeck, Wolfgang, 1995. "German capitalism: Does it exist? Can it survive?," MPIfG Discussion Paper 95/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    8. Engelbert Stockhammer, 2016. "Neoliberal growth models, monetary union and the Euro crisis. A post-Keynesian perspective," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 365-379, July.
    9. Michael D. Bordo & Barry Eichengreen, 1993. "A Retrospective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bord93-1, March.
    10. Mertens, Daniel, 2015. "Erst sparen, dann kaufen? Privatverschuldung in Deutschland," Schriften aus dem Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, volume 82, number 82.
    11. Baccaro, Lucio & Pontusson, Jonas, 2018. "Comparative political economy and varieties of macroeconomics," MPIfG Discussion Paper 18/10, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    12. Kreile, Michael, 1977. "West Germany: the dynamics of expansion," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(4), pages 775-808, October.
    13. Hyeon-Seung Huh, 1999. "How well does the Mundell-Fleming model fit Australian data since the collapse of Bretton Woods?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 397-407.
    14. Amable, Bruno, 2017. "Structural Crisis and Institutional Change in Modern Capitalism: French Capitalism in Transition," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198787815, Decembrie.
    15. Michael D. Bordo, 1993. "The Bretton Woods International Monetary System: A Historical Overview," NBER Chapters, in: A Retrospective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform, pages 3-108, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Hall, Peter A. & Franzese, Robert J., 1998. "Mixed Signals: Central Bank Independence, Coordinated Wage Bargaining, and European Monetary Union," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(3), pages 505-535, July.
    17. Haffert, Lukas, 2015. "Freiheit von Schulden - Freiheit zum Gestalten? Die Politische Ökonomie von Haushaltsüberschüssen," Schriften aus dem Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, volume 84, number 84.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Höpner, Martin & Baccaro, Lucio, 2022. "Das deutsche Wachstumsmodell, 1991-2019," MPIfG Discussion Paper 22/9, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    2. Greg Fuller & Alison Johnston & Aidan Regan, 2018. "Bringing the Household Back in. Comparative Capitalism and the Politics of Housing Markets," Working Papers 201807, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    3. Engelbert Stockhammer & Syed Mohib Ali, 2018. "Varieties of Capitalism and post-Keynesian economics on Euro crisis," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 44(3), pages 349-370.
    4. Baccaro, Lucio & Pontusson, Jonas, 2018. "Comparative political economy and varieties of macroeconomics," MPIfG Discussion Paper 18/10, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. Pierre L. Siklos, 1999. "Inflation-target design: changing inflation performance and persistence in industrial countries," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Mar, pages 46-58.
    6. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2018. "International monetary regimes and the German model," MPIfG Discussion Paper 18/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    7. Florentin Kerschbaumer & Andreas Maschke, 2020. "European Monetary Union and Inequality: A Synthetic Control Approach," Working Papers PKWP2024, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    8. Braun, Benjamin & Deeg, Richard, 2019. "Strong firms, weak banks: The financial consequences of Germany's export-led growth model," MPIfG Discussion Paper 19/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    9. Bordo, Michael D. & Jonung, Lars, 1994. "Monetary Regimes, Inflation and Monetary Reform: An Essay in Honor of Axel Leijonhufvud," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 16, Stockholm School of Economics.
    10. Cohen, Joseph N., 2008. "Managing the Faustian bargain: monetary autonomy in the pursuit of development in Eastern Europe and Latin America," MPRA Paper 22435, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Reto Bürgisser & Donato Di Carlo, 2023. "Blessing or Curse? The Rise of Tourism‐Led Growth in Europe's Southern Periphery," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 236-258, January.
    12. Andreas Bieler & Jamie Jordan & Adam David Morton, 2019. "EU Aggregate Demand As a Way out of Crisis? Engaging the Post‐Keynesian Critique," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 805-822, July.
    13. Karsten Kohler & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2022. "Growing differently? Financial cycles, austerity, and competitiveness in growth models since the Global Financial Crisis," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 1314-1341, July.
    14. Michael Patrick Curran & Matthew J. Fagerstrom, 2019. "Monetary Growth and Financial Sector Wages," Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics Working Paper Series 41, Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics.
    15. Christoph S. Weber, 2020. "The unemployment effect of central bank transparency," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(6), pages 2947-2975, December.
    16. Torres, Ernani & Zeidan, Rodrigo, 2016. "The life-cycle of national development banks: The experience of Brazil's BNDES," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 97-104.
    17. Monnet, Eric & Puy, Damien, 2020. "Do old habits die hard? Central banks and the Bretton Woods gold puzzle," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    18. David, Géraldine & Li, Yuexin & Oosterlinck, Kim & Renneboog, Luc, 2021. "Art in Times of Crisis," Discussion Paper 2021-026, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    19. Amr S. Hosny & N. Kundan Kishor & Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee, 2015. "Understanding the dynamics of the macroeconomic trilemma," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 32-64, January.
    20. Michael D. Bordo & Marc Flandreau, 2003. "Core, Periphery, Exchange Rate Regimes, and Globalization," NBER Chapters, in: Globalization in Historical Perspective, pages 417-472, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    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:mpifgd:191. 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://edirc.repec.org/data/mpigfde.html .

    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.