Page 64 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

THE FREIBURG CIRCLES 37

created not only transparency but also credibility. Consequently, the first
report submitted on 18 April 1948 received a remarkable response in
political and public circles. Following the publication of the report,
Ludwig Erhard in particular recognised the ability of the independent
advisory council to offer influential support for his economic policy. Thus
the AG EvB had access to the most influential political actor at that time.
Beyond dispute, by presenting its neo-liberal views via the Advisory
Council on Economic Affairs as its genuine successor, the AGEvB,
according to the published reports of the council, successfully influenced
35
the future economic reorganisation of Germany.
It was not only because of the beneficial cooperation between the
AGEvB and the WBVfW that the Freiburg economists attached great
importance to their contacts with policy-makers. Initially, they made
36
formal approaches to the Allied Military Governments and Ludwig Erhard
as head of the SGK and successor of Johannes Semler as Director of the
Administration for Economics. However, there followed further unofficial
or private contacts, which may have had an impact on the shaping of the
economic policy. In fact, many of Erhard’s proposals, such as the report
on the reorganisation of the German finances, were based on the ideas of
the economist Adolf Weber. After all, both were professors at the
Ludwigs-Maximilians University in Munich, who had worked together in
37
the AG VWB as early as 1945. In turn, Adolf Weber was the doctoral
supervisor for Adolf Lampe and also for Constantin von Dietze and Fritz
Hauenstein. Like the AGEvB, Weber advocated a major currency reform in
order to enable the economic reconstruction of Germany, and so Adolf
Lampe contacted his former supervisor in preparation of his own
studies. This interchange of ideas may have reached Erhard as well.
38
There existed yet another connection between the AGEvB and the Director
of the Administration for Economics in the Bizonal Economic Council:
research for this chapter has revealed that Erich Preiser wrote his doctoral
thesis with Franz Oppenheimer in Frankfurt in 1923 – at the same time as
Ludwig Erhard. Furthermore, directly contrary to the assumption by
Blumenberg-Lampe that no personal contacts with Konrad Adenauer had
39
been established before 1947, one must consider this as probable since
the preliminary meeting of the AG EvB took place in the Hotel Wolkenburg in
Rhöndorf, in immediate proximity to Adenauer’s home. Although no
concrete proof exists of an unofficial and influential connection between
the AG EvB and Ludwig Erhard or Konrad Adenauer before 1947, the
work of the academics in Freiburg indirectly affected the politicians’
economic policy. However, at least their views arrived on a political level
and from there were brought before the public.