전후 서독경제 고성장(1950-1973년)의 원인과 성격에 관한 연구

Causes and characteristics of the high growth of West Germany after the World War Ⅱ(1950-1973)

The years between 1950 and 1973 witnessed the longest period of uninterrupted growth in West Germany and at the highest growth rates in economic history. For West Germany the average increase in gross domestic product(GDP) during this so-called ‘Golden Age’ amounted about 5.9% percent per year. Economic growth in West Germany was more rapid than any other country because she had abundant potentiality of growth, i.e. the sufficiently remained capital stock in spite of the World War Ⅱ, the continued supplies of labour from an influx of refugees and the increase of population, and the highly increased human capital along with the tech-nological innovation. Moreover, in the demand side the German export increased very rapidly after her joining in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1951 and the establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957. This article has analysed the causes and characteristics of the ‘Superwachstum’ in West Germany mostly based on the Schumpeterian ‘long wave hypothesis’. The high growth rates in West Germany were certainly remarkable, but they were scarcely ‘miraculaous’. American technology played a crucial role in sparkling the rapid growth and the ‘catch-up’ process of West Germany. In addition to having forfeited her potential increment of growth, it operated with obsolete equipment and lagged behind the United States in technological progress. Technological modernization both accompanied and was an important contributory factor to the rapid growth. The change of the attitude and role of government was not its major factor. Government assumed the tasks of providing overall stability, a climate favorable to growth, and minimal protection for the economically weak and underprivileged, but the main task of producing the goods and services remained mostly to private enterprise. In conclusion, the whole process of the rapid growth in West Germany during the ‘Golden Age’ was characteristic of a world wide long wave of the natural ‘upward’ business cycle.