A Political Economy of Power: Ordoliberalism in Context, 1932-1950

281 Pages·2021·11.666 MB·English

by  Raphaël Fèvre

A Political Economy of Power
OXFORD STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF ECONOMICS
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Professor of Economics, University of Colorado Denver
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economics’ continued development.
A Political Economy
of Power
Ordoliberalism in Context, 1932– 1950
vv
Raphaël Fèvre
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Fèvre, Raphaël, author.
Title: A political economy of power : Ordoliberalism in context, 1932–1 950 / Raphaël Fèvre.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2021. |
Series: Oxford studies history economics series | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021025221 | ISBN 9780197607800 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780197607824 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Economic policy. | Economics—Germany—History—20th
century. | Historical school of economics. | Power (Social sciences)
Classification: LCC HC54 .F48 2021 | DDC 338.9009—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021025221
DOI: 10.1093/ oso/ 9780197607800.001.0001
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Integrated Books International, United States of America
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: The Making of Ordoliberalism 1
1. From the Ashes of the Western Liberal Order 23
2. Science Against Interests 61
3. Economy Through Orders 93
4. Authority Taming Power 143
5. Epilogue: Time for Responsibility 187
Conclusion: Ordoliberalism, from Crystallization to Ossification 213
Bibliography 219
Index 253

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book on German ordoliberalism is largely based on a PhD disserta-
tion that was completed in Lausanne, in October 2017. I wish to express
my warm thanks to my co- supervisors, Jérôme Lallement and Roberto
Baranzini, for their academic and personal guidance and for allowing me
a viable compromise between freedom in the conduct of my research and
the rigorous demands of intellectual work. I am also indebted to Richard
Arena, Patricia Commun, Lisa Herzog, Harro Maas, and Emmanuel Picavet
who examined my dissertation and contributed to shape its final version.
From 2012 to 2017, I have received the support of the University of
Lausanne, where I enjoyed exceptional working conditions as a researcher
and PhD student. I do remember as golden years this period spent at the
Centre Walras Pareto. I learned more than I can tell in this remarkably fer-
tile and inspiring environment, and all my gratitude and affection go to its
members. I have a special thought for Michele Bee, Nicolas Brisset, Maxime
Desmarais- Tremblay, Antoine Missemer, Thomas Mueller, François
Allisson, and Nicolas Eyguesier, who maintained the uncertain but happy
space between collegiality and friendship. They have been invaluable in-
tellectual companions, initiating me to the subtleties of the academic en-
vironment and orienting the pursuit of my research. In Lausanne, I also
benefited from the constant guidance and support of Pascal Bridel, Harro
Maas, and Biancamaria Fontana. Bianca was particularly instrumental in
generating (and nurturing) my interest in pursuing my academic work in
Cambridge.
The manuscript of this book was written during an eighteen- month
visiting fellowship at the University of Cambridge (funded by a postdoc-
toral Mobility Grant of the University of Lausanne). I was hosted by the
Department of Politics and International Studies and benefited from the
support of Clare Hall. The frequency and richness of intellectual exchanges,
well beyond the usual disciplinary practices, make of Cambridge a remark-
able place to pursue research in general and to work on the history of ideas
( viii ) Acknowledgments
in particular. I am most grateful to Duncan Kelly, who not only showed in-
terest in my work from the start, but also was a constant source of support
through our regular discussions over lunch at Jesus College.
I finished writing and polishing this book in Nice, where I joined the
Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion (GREDEG) at the
Université Côte d’Azur in the Fall of 2020. Despite the restrictions due to
the pandemic, my colleagues warmly welcomed me and helped me feel at
home very quickly. I am thankful to Richard Arena, Nicolas Brisset, Muriel
Dal Pont Legrand, and many others for their friendliness.
In recent years, I have benefited from numerous discussions on and
around my work, feeding my reflection through casual talks, seminars,
summer schools, international conferences, and workshops. The most reg-
ular of these meetings was the Albert Oliver Hirschman seminar led by
Annie Cot and Jérôme Lallement at Université Paris 1—a hub of passionate
debates from which I learned a great deal thanks to Cléo Chassonery-
Zaïgouche, Aurélien Goustmedt, Dorian Jullien, Jean- Sébastien Lenfant,
Erich Pinzon Fuchs, Matthieu Renault, Francesco Sergi, and all the members
of the REHPERE team network. On many occasions, I also had the priv-
ilege to discuss my work with a number of specialists of ordoliberalism,
such as Thomas Biebricher, Patricia Commun, Nils Goldschmidt, Harald
Hagemann, Stefan Kolev, Daniel Nientiedt, Jean Solchany, and Keith Tribe,
who offered me generous help and advice.
Finally, I wish to thank David Pervin and James Cook at Oxford
University Press for adopting this project, and Steve Medema for welcoming
it into the Oxford Studies in the History of Economics. I am particularly
grateful to Steve and to the two reviewers for their encouraging and inci-
sive suggestions. Biancamaria Fontana, Duncan Kelly, and Erwin Dekker
were kind enough to read parts of the manuscript. I am indebted to them
for being so characteristically generous with their time and for the acuity
of their comments.
It goes without saying that none of this would have been possible without
the loving support of my friends and family. I am especially grateful to my
mother, Florence, who has constantly encouraged me in the pursuit of my
studies as well as in my personal choices. I also owe her a taste for books
and reading, without which writing a monograph on the history of ideas
would have been clearly far less easy and enjoyable.
Through his incomparable wittiness, continuing support, and affec-
tion, Michele’s contribution to all of this is immense: per il suo sguardo
che abbellisce ciò che abbraccia, possa un semplice silenzio esprimere la mia
riconoscenza.
— R. F.
Lausanne– Cambridge– Nice (2012– 2021)
Acknowledgments ( ix )
N.B. All translations from materials not already translated into English are
mine. By and large, I have used existing translations while remaining free
to amend them.
Chapter 5 of the book was first published as “Denazifying the
Economy: Ordoliberals on the Economic Policy Battlefield (1946–5 0),” in
History of Political Economy (Fèvre 2018c) but has been restructured dif-
ferently in the book and augmented by the subsection “5.2.3 Toward a
Consumer Democracy?”