por admin » Mié Sep 08, 2010 8:32 am
Otra mirada al milagro Aleman
El gobierno Aleman ha recortado el gasto del gobierno y el crecimiento de su economia se ve mas inteligente. Esta no es la primera vez que las politicas a favor del mercado sacan a la nacion de la crisis.
Al inicio del verano Soros y economistas Keynesian criticaron la estricta disciplina fiscal de Alemania. Sin embargo el PBI real del pasi crecio un robusto 9% en el segundo trimestre (anualizado), mientras US subia a un anemico 1.6%. Es que ahora Alemania es el modelo de la recuperacion?
El ministro de finanzas Aleman justifico el recorte del gasto citando el peligro de los deficits y la inflacion, los cuales tienen sus raices en la historia Alemania del siglo pasado. El se estaba refiriendo probablemente a la destructiva hiperinflacion de 1920.
Pero tambien podria haber estado refiriendose a otro episodio relevante de la historia de esa nacion. hace 60 anios Alemania se convirtio en el modelo de la recuperacion de una crisis completamente diferente. Despues de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, las ciudades Alemanas,las fabricas y las carreteras quedaron destruidas. La escasez de comida, agua y vivienda amenazaban seriamente la supervivencia de esa nacion.
Desafortunamente, la ocupacion de los politicos perpetuaron la escasez reteniendo el control de precios impuestos por los Nazis despues de la guerra. Los consumidores y los negocios batallaron contra el regimen burocratico de racionamiento donde el economista Aleman Ludwig Erhard describio como l a guerra de papel. El mercado negro florecio.
El partido Social Democratico queria continuar con los controles y el racionamiento, y algunos asesores Americanos estaban de acuerdo particularmente John Kenneth Galbraith.
Entre 1950 y 1960 la Economia de West Germany crecio mas del doble, creciendo a un ritmo de 8% al anio.
Afortunadamente para los Alemanes comunes y corrientes, Erhard quien estuvo a cargo de la economia pensaba de otra manera. La reforma de la moneda que el ayudo a diseniar para reemplazar al Reichmark con el nuevo Deustche mark, el tambien abolio todos los controles de precios y el racionamiento, sin la autorizacion de los aliados. El mas tarde le contesto a su commander cuando este le dijo que estaba cometiendo un gran error: si eso es lo mismo que me dicen mis asesores.
Pero no fue un error. En las siguientes semanas Erhard removio todos los controles de precios, los controles de salarios, Los efectos de la abolicion de los controles fue dramatico.
La escasez termino, los mercados negros desaparecieron, y Alemania empezo su recuperacion. Comprar y vender con los marcos Deustche reemplazaron el intercambio de mercaderia (barter) Los observadores remarcaron que de la noche a la maniana las fabricas empezaron a funcionar, los camiones de entrega de mercaderia se amontonaban en las calles, y el ruido de la construccion se oia por todas partes.
El remarcable exito de las reformas fueron irreversibles. Pocos meses despues, los Franceses hicieron lo mismo. Las autoridades aliadas rebajaron los impuestos sustancialmente.
Entre Junio y Diciembre de 1948, la produccion industrial en las tres zonas de Western Germany se incrementaron en 50%. En Mayo de 1949 las tres zonas se convertirian en la Federal Republic of Germany, llamada comunmente West Germany, mientras que la del este se quedo ante la dominacion de la Union Sovietica como la German Democratic Republic.
El crecimiento continuo durante el gobierno con politicas amigables a los libres mercados. Erhar fue nombrado Ministro de Economia entre 1949 y 1963. West Germany no solo dejo a East Germany en el suelo si no que crecio mas que Francia e Inglaterra a pesar de la ayuda que recibieron esos dos paises del plan Marshall. Esa fue la era del milagro economico.
Entre 1950 y 1960 West Germany aumento su produccion a mas del doble, crecio por toda la decada a un ritmo compuesto de casi 8% al anio. Gracias a su politica economica superior.
Erhard se convirtio en primer ministro en 1963. El fue el creador del milagro economico.
las ideas de Erdhard eran la de los economistas de libres mercados de la Universidad de Freiburg, particulamente de Walter Euken, quien desarrollo una filosifa liberal conocida como Ordoliberalism. Mas adelante Keynes eclipsaria todas esas ideas.
Desgraciadamente el estado de beneficencia lo reemplazo, la economia bajo su crecimiento. Entre 1960 a 1973 el crecimiento ha sido la mitad de lo que fue en los 50s y desde 1973 a 1989 ha crecido solamente 2% al anio.
El nuevo interes en el Ordoliberalism es lo mejor que le pueda pasar a Alemania.
La Alemania de hoy dia puede bsucar su modelo economico en la Alemania de hace 60 anios.
Mr. White is professor of economics at George Mason University. This op-ed draws on his forthcoming book, "The Clash of Economic Ideas."
The German Miracle: Another Look
Germany has cut government spending and its economy is growing smartly. It's not the first time that market-friendly policies have led the nation out of crisis
By LAWRENCE H. WHITE
Earlier this summer George Soros and some leading Keynesian economists criticized what they regarded as Germany's overly strict fiscal discipline. Yet Germany's real output expanded at a robust 9% annual rate in the second quarter, while the U.S. economy grew at an anemic 1.6% rate. So is Germany now a role model for how to recover?
In a June op-ed, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble justified his government's decision to cut spending, citing "aversion to deficits and inflationary fears, which have their roots in German history in the past century." He was presumably making a reference to the destructive hyperinflation of the 1920s.
Yet Mr. Schäuble might have cited another relevant episode from his nation's history. Sixty-two years ago Germany became a role model for recovery from a very different crisis. In the aftermath of World War II, Germany's cities, factories and railroads lay in ruins. Severe shortages of food, fuel, water and housing posed challenges to sheer survival.
Unfortunately, occupation policy makers actually perpetuated the shortages by retaining the price controls the Nazi government had imposed before and during the war. Consumers and businessmen battled against the bureaucratic regime of controls and rationing in what the German economist Ludwig Erhard described as Der Papierkrieg—the paper war. Black markets were pervasive.
Germany's new Social Democratic Party wanted to continue the controls and rationing, and some American advisers agreed, particularly John Kenneth Galbraith. Galbraith, an official of the U.S. State Department overseeing economic policy for occupied Germany and Japan, had been the U.S. price-control czar from 1941-1943; he completely dismissed the idea of reviving the German economy through decontrol.
A 1950s Volkswagen plant. Between 1950 and 1960 the West German economy's real output more than doubled, growing at a compound annual rate of nearly 8% per year.
.Fortunately for ordinary Germans, Erhard—who became director of the economic administration for the U.K.-U.S. occupation Bizone in April 1948—thought otherwise. A currency reform that he helped to design was slated to replace the feeble old Reichsmark with the new Deutsche mark in all three Western zones on June 20. Without approval from the Allied military command, Erhard used the occasion to issue a sweeping decree abolishing most of the price controls and rationing directives. He later told friends that the American commander, Gen. Lucius Clay, phoned him when he heard about the decree and said: "Professor Erhard, my advisers tell me that you are making a big mistake." Erhard replied, "So my advisers also tell me."
It was not a big mistake. In the following weeks Erhard removed most of the Bizone's remaining price controls, wage controls, allocation edicts and rationing directives. The effects of decontrol were dramatic.
The shortages ended, black markets disappeared, and Germany's recovery began. Buying and selling with Deutsche marks replaced barter. Observers remarked that almost overnight the factories began to belch smoke, delivery trucks crowded the streets, and the noise of construction crews clattered throughout the cities.
The remarkable success of the reforms made them irreversible. A few months later the French zone followed suit. The Allied authorities went on to lower tax rates substantially.
Between June and December of 1948, industrial production in the three Western zones increased by an astounding 50%. In May 1949 the three zones were merged to form the Federal Republic of Germany, commonly called West Germany, while East Germany remained under Soviet domination as the German Democratic Republic.
Growth continued under the market-friendly policies of the new West German government. Erhard became the Minister of Economic Affairs, serving under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer from 1949 to 1963. The West German economy not only left East Germany's in the dust, it outgrew France's and the United Kingdom's despite receiving much less Marshall Plan aid. This was the era of the Wirtschaftswunder or "economic miracle."
Between 1950 and 1960 the West German economy's real output more than doubled, growing for a decade at a compound annual rate of nearly 8% per year. Econometricians who have tried to parse the various factors contributing to this remarkable record found that not all of it can be attributed to a growing labor force and investment flows, or to "catching up" from a low initial level of output. A large chunk of the period's growth is explained by superior economic policy.
Erhard succeeded Adenauer in 1963 and served as chancellor for three years. His electoral success was an endorsement of the policies that had unleashed the Wirtschaftswunder.
Erhard drew his ideas from free-market economists centered at the University of Freiburg, particularly Walter Eucken, who developed a classical liberal philosophy known as Ordoliberalism (named after ORDO, the academic journal where the economists published their ideas). Interest in Ordoliberal ideas waned in Germany after 1963, eclipsed by interest in Keynesian economics. The welfare state grew. The economy became clogged with interest-group policies. Not coincidentally, economic growth also waned. From 1960 to 1973 growth was about half as great as it had been in the 1950s, and during the period from 1973 to 1989 it was halved again to only 2% per year.
Interest in Ordoliberalism began to revive among academics in the 1970s and 1980s, and it continues to have an institutional presence in Freiburg at the university and at the Walter Eucken Institute. Greater interest among politicians might be the best thing for reviving German economic growth over the long term.
If Mr. Schäuble is sincere when he says that, by comparison with U.S. policy makers, "we take the longer view and are, therefore, more preoccupied with the implications of excessive deficits and the dangers of high inflation," he can find a useful model in the policies of his predecessor 60 years ago.
Mr. White is professor of economics at George Mason University. This op-ed draws on his forthcoming book, "The Clash of Economic Ideas."