Пять десятилетий социальному рыночному хозяйству Германии: поучительные уроки прошлого и современность

Abstract

"The article "Five Decades of Social Market Economy in Germany: the Instructive Lessons of the Past and the Contemporary Situation" gives theoretical consideration to the ideas underlying the model of social market economy of Germany and to the necessity to use them in the transformation of the economic system of Belarus. The interest in the German experience is very high and German economic success is well-known. Alongside with the economic efficiency, this experience includes successful settlement of social problems. Though the task is not as simple as it might seem. Every successful experience is liable to be idealized, for the evaluation criterion is based on current achievements. At the same time, raising the issue of the republic's economy learning something and gaining and borrowing some experience in this transition period towards market economy is quite relevant: the coincidence of the problems is striking and the lessons drawn from their resolving are very instructive. This is not the case with the general evaluation of the ideas of "Orgnungliberalismus" which underlay the economic policy of the FRG and made up its ideology. The Orgnungliberalismus concept itself suffered changes and development and was not without inherent contradictions. That is why German economists, while adhering to this ideology, divide in their evaluation: some preferring a greater "liberalism" others — a greater "order". The article stresses that the market which came into being in the FRG in the post-war period, was very heterogeneous and the state determined its character and functioning conditions to a great extent. Already in the 50s a great area of economy was beyond the zone of the market price mechanism and the law on competition did not cover it. For various social and political reasons the state exercised a regulating influence on several branches of economy and practiced various kinds of selective regulating. Thus a free market did not rule absolutely in the FRG; there appeared the statemechanism of market regulation with a wide range of regulating instruments which obviously went far beyond the scope accepted by the Freiburg School. Still, when the market obeyed "the economic order", the state obeyed the market. A guarded attitude to the state persisted which played a positive role by preventing a potential revival of the state monopolistic capitalism. The article expresses an opinion that the German model of social market economy is of greater practical interest for Belarus compared with the American one where the elements of liberalism or market forces have more scope to play, because the legal and ethical rules characteristic of the organized market are more developed in the FRG than in the USA. A pronounced area of German experience of the last decades is social economic policy at the enterprise level. The article notes the importance of this experience mainly from the side of planning at the enterprise level and in the area of the employees' participation in management and property deals. The German experience offers a lot to learn for Belarus. But the social market model can not be transplanted completely into the republic (as it has been done in the former GDR). As the same time the concept itself, the main propositions modified to suit specific Belarusian requirements, may well be realized in the Republic of Belarus.