Adenauer-era economics aimed to dismantle the welfare state rather than build it

Evidence

In 1952, towards the end of the period in which the economy was still state-controlled, the neo-liberal Minister of Economic Affairs, Ludwig Erhard, the father of the economic miracle', had emphasized that the welfare state introduced for social reasons under special social circumstances must be dismantled as quickly as possible.’ This view continued to form part of his programme. In the 1960s it was heard again from Erhard’s adviser, Rüdiger Altmann (who had invented the motto fully formed society')-for example, in an article in the Handelsblatt, as follows: what mattered was to get this society to accept the toughness of its economic and technological struggle for achievement, that there will be no social paradise, that all programmes which attempt to subordinate the economy to any social order are illusions’. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2516

Categorization

• QUESTION: Interesting to trace in what sense the postwar economy was ever ‘state-controlled’ before Erhard’s liberalization — worth checking details of that transition.
• SEED: A solid historical anchor for any essay on how the ‘social market economy’ myth coexisted with an explicit anti-welfare-state program.
• XREF: connects to: Ordoliberal economic ideas became socially embedded through a welfare-state compromise — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 366; Postwar class resentment infected economic theory and now drives welfare stigma — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 227; Neoliberals sought minimal welfare that avoided legitimizing the welfare state — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 206 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Röpke proposed abolishing the welfare state except for a bare minimum #exemplifies (0.88) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 214
• Ordoliberal economic ideas became socially embedded through a welfare-state compromise #contradicts (0.85) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 366
• Neoliberals sought minimal welfare that avoided legitimizing the welfare state #corroborates (0.82) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 206
• Postwar class resentment infected economic theory and now drives welfare stigma #corroborates (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 227