A Reform Strategy for Germany

In this chapter, we outline a reform strategy to promote a more entrepreneurial society in Germany. Germany has developed a successful model of capitalism in which high productivity growth is driven by on-the-job learning and firm-specific skill accumulation. The economy is rooted in a strong and regionally embedded Mittelstand, which supports an export-oriented industry mainly based on incremental innovations, but which is less conducive to more radical innovation. We, therefore, suggest a reform agenda for Germany that encourages more entrepreneurial experimentation with the aim of facilitating radical innovation, both in incumbent and new firms. Germany’s entrepreneurial talent should be encouraged to take on more risk, the education system could promote initiative, creativity and a willingness to experiment, and a more equal playing field between dependent employment and self-employment/employer could be created

Companies, Industry, and "Crafts and Trades"

Heute hat Deutschland so viele Unternehmen wie Berlin Einwohner. Sie beschäftigen knapp die Hälfte aller 16- bis 65-Jährigen. Industrie unternehmen produzieren weniger Eisen und Stahl als vor 50 Jahren, aber fünfmal so viele Pkw. Welche Dimensionen hat der industrielle Strukturwandel? Seit wann wächst der Export schneller als der Umsatz im Inland? Stimmt es, dass das Handwerk stirbt? Diese und viele andere Fragen lassen sich mit den vorgestellten Daten diskutieren

Die "Neue Ökonomie" des industriellen Kapitalismus: Eine industrielle und institutionelle Revolution

Als die Industrialisierung um 1840 in den meisten deutschen Regionen begann, arbeiteten in Aachen bereits mehr als die Hälfte aller Beschäftigten in großen Fabriken. Dampfmaschinen und rauchende Schornsteine prägten das Bild der Stadt. Wie kam es dazu? Welche Veränderungen brachte die Industriewirtschaft mit sich? Warum war die Entwicklung im westlichen Rheinland so dynamisch? Alfred Reckendrees geht diesen Fragen in einem wirtschaftshistorischen Forschungsprojekt nach

Weimar Germany: The First Open Access Order That Failed?

The Weimar Republic is analysed within the concept of limited and open access orders. Before World War I, Imperial Germany had developed into a mature limited access order with rule of law and open economic access but lack of competition in politics. After World War I and inflation, Weimar Germany developed toward an open access order; open access was not, however, sustainable and collapsed in 1930–31. This case of a failed open access order suggests refining the framework of limited and open access orders in further work. It shows that the political process of “creative destruction” might result in dissolution of open access and that the political system needs the capacity of efficiently creating legitimacy in order to sustain openness. The failure of Weimar Germany also indicates that the international political system might work as a destabilizing factor of open access and that the nation-state perspective of the limited and open access order framework needs to be supplemented by an international perspective

Dinámica de la "superposición de clústeres": Desarrollo económico de la región industrial de Aachen, 1800-1860

The economic transition characterizing the process of European industrialisation in the 19th century was concentrated on regions rather than on states. In the first half of the 19th century, the region of Aachen (in the west of Prussia) pioneered this development in the territory of the German states and became a powerful industrial region. The implementation and diffusion of the factory system and the economic impact of adapted and new institutions make up the core of this paper. Reciprocal interconnections between firms of different clusters shaped the region and created economic dynamics. Investments transgressed the boundaries of single industries and new industries emerged. One important feature of the regional production system was cross-sectional knowledge transfer; a second was institutions supportive to this process.La transición económica característica del proceso de industrialización europeo del siglo xix se concentró en regiones, y no en estados. En la primera mitad del siglo xix, la región de Aachen (al oeste de Prusia) fue pionera en el territorio de los estados alemanes y llegó a convertirse en una potente región industrial. Este artículo se centra en la implementación y difusión del sistema de fábricas y el impacto económico de instituciones nuevas y adaptadas. Conexiones recíprocas entre empresas de distintos clústeres industriales moldearon la región y dieron lugar a dinámicas económicas. Las inversiones superaron los límites de sectores industriales, lo que dio lugar al nacimiento de nuevas industrias. Una característica importante del sistema de producción regional fue la transmisión de conocimiento entre sectores y una segunda, las instituciones que apoyaron el proceso

Weimar Germany: The first open access order that failed?

The Weimar Republic is analysed within the framework of limited and open access orders. Germany had developed into a mature limited access order before World War I, with rule of law and open economic access but only limited access to politics. After the war, Germany developed toward an open access order; this process was, however, not sustainable. Two interpretations are discussed, which both pose a challenge to the limited access-open access framework: (1.) Weimar Germany was the first open access order that failed; (2.) sufficiency conditions of the sustainability of open access are not yet included in the framework. It is proposed that sustainable open access orders do not only depend on open political and economic access and on the state monopolising violence capacities (coercive power); government and the political institutions must also have the capacity to efficiently create legitimacy via coordination capabilities