Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/247438 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2021-20
Publisher: 
University of Massachusetts, Department of Economics, Amherst, MA
Abstract: 
This paper develops a comparative and connected history of the debates over transition to a market economy in West-Germany after World War II and in China during the first decade of reform and opening up under Deng Xiaoping (1978-1988). At both historical moments the political aim was to reintroduce market mechanisms into a dysfunctional command economy. The question what kind of price reform this required was subject to heated debates among economists. This paper shows how the West-German 1948 currency and price reform was introduced into the Chinese reform debate by German ordoliberals and neoliberals like Friedman. It traces how the West-German case study was mystified as "Erhard Miracle" and became a metaphor for the vision of universal overnight price liberalisation in China - a core element of shock therapy.
Subjects: 
Neoliberalism
Socialism
China
Germany
Market transition
Price theory
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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