Economy

The Germans proudly label their economy a "soziale Marktwirtshaft," or "social market economy," to show that the system as it has developed after World War II has both a material and a social or human dimension. They stress the importance of the term "market" because after the Nazi experience they wanted an economy free of state intervention and domination. The only state role in the new West German economy was to protect the competitive environment from the monopolistic or oligopolistic tendencies including its own. The term "social" is stressed because West Germans wanted an economy that would not only help the wealthy but also care for the workers and others who might not prove able to cope with the strenuous competitive demands of a market economy. The term "social" was chosen rather than " socialist" to distinguish their system from those in which the state claimed the right to direct the economy or to intervene in it.