History

The basic ideas of Ordnungspolitik originate from ancient times. Later, the concept was developed by the Scottish Moral Philosophers as well as by the Austrian School of Economics. But it was the Freiburg School of Economics which first generated a coherent, ordo-liberal approach to Ordnungspolitik in the first half of the 20th century.

 

The role the “Fathers of Ordnungspolitik” like Franz Böhm, Walter Eucken, Ludwig Erhard, Hans Gustav Grossmann-Doerth, Friedrich August von Hayek, Alfred Müller-Armack, Wilhelm Röpke and Alexander Rüstow contributed, in terms of furthering its theoretical development and practical introduction into the Social Market Economy in Germany after WW II cannot be underestimated.

 

But besides the German perspective, (focussing on the Social Market Economy), Ordnungspolitik is a potentially useful tool for numerous international applications, particularly in connection with institutional competition as well as welfare state reform.