Page 77 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

50 THE MAKING OF THE GERMAN POST-WAR ECONOMY

persuasion carried out by communication media as such distinct from
their content, the two economists did not attach great importance to the
individual communication medium, as long as the message directly
reached the audience which was eased by the supportive slogan ‘Social
Market Economy’. In fact, a former advertising manager for consumer
goods, Ludwig Erhard, applied the same strategies as for any other
product as far as it was good merchandise. And thereof, the great
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communicator who passionately fought for his doctrine was entirely
convinced. According to Erhard, who made use of the media in order to
convey his economic views, as when he founded the periodical Der Markt
der Fertigware in 1929 which appeared as Die deutsche Fertigware in 1933 and
when he expressed his economic views in Leopold Schwarzschild’s liberal
paper Das Tage-Buch in 1931, economic policy and publicity were
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inseparable; the more publicity the better for the economy.
However, Alfred Müller-Armack noted the danger of a public debate on
economic policy and advocated a cautious discussion. According to the
economist, the public spirit could not yet cope with the tasks demanded of
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it. Similarly Ludwig Erhard cautioned against a broad and public
discussion:

What makes the attempt to debate the question of an economic
constitution [...] complicated is on the one side the electorate’s
overreliance [...] to accept political doctrines enunciated by single
personalities [...]; on the other side the [...] inability to comprehend
these complex economic and sociological issues.
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Nonetheless, in order to counteract falsification but mainly to promote
their socio-economic model, Ludwig Erhard and Alfred Müller-Armack
wrote newspaper articles and unremittingly toured through West
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Germany. The latter stated:

I practised the business of itinerancy and held presentations. It was
the time [...] where even a business card [...] needed the licence
number of the [...] military authorities. The officers [...] would have
probably not given the licence for [...] a book. Also I did not request
it but rather disseminated my thoughts via […] exposés to the
German public. [...]. A circulation of 10,000 or 100,000 was not
necessary; 200 were sufficient to address the essential receivers.
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This source reveals both the effort and the approach with which Müller-
Armack campaigned for the common goal, namely to implement the
Social Market Economy. In comparison, Ludwig Erhard considered an