183. When did the 'economic miracle' occur in the Federal Republic of Germany?

Answer options

1. 1. 1940s
2. 2. 1950s
3. 3. 1970s
4. 4. 1980s

Explanation

The Federal Republic’s 'economic miracle' chiefly occurred in the 1950s, during the Adenauer/Erhard era and within the ordoliberal social market economy. Legally and institutionally, the 1948 currency reform, the 1952 Equalization of Burdens Act, constitutionally protected collective bargaining (Art. 9(3) Basic Law), the Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB, 1957), and the Bundesbank Act (1957) underpinned stable growth. The Basic Law prescribes no specific economic system, yet the guarantees of property (Art. 14), occupational freedom (Art. 12), and the social state principle (Art. 20(1)) constitutionally frame a market order with social safeguards. External impulses—the Marshall Plan and the Korean War boom—further accelerated reconstruction and the integration of millions of expellees.