The social market economy was a trademark for a miraculous reconstruction after the Second World War with a steadily growing prosperity to the beginning of the seventies. Today especially, from this regulatory model of the political slogan "social market economy," it remains based on the regulatory model of state-led economic welfare.
The development of the social market economy is a story of rise and fall of a regulatory idea. It begs the questions: How did this idea come about? How important is it for German economic development? And what, if any, of the socialist market ideology has been replaced? Answers to these questions offer a look at the history of German economic and regulatory policy. At the same time, there are also demands for a restructuring of the economy and society in Germany.