The Political Economy of Germany Under Chancellors Kohl and Schroder

While unification has undoubtedly had major effects on Germany's political economy, the pattern of current policy-making preferences was established at an earlier stage, in particular, at the beginning of the "Kohl-era" in 1982. This essentially neo- liberal pattern can be seen to have dominated the modalities chosen to guide Germany through the process of unification and was mirrored in developments in other OECD countries and in particular within the EU. This book demonstrates that the three policy imperatives (neo-liberal structural reform, European monetary integration, and unification) produced a policy-mix which, together with other structural economic and demographic factors, has had disappointing results in all three areas and hampered Germany's overall economic development.

Jeremy Leaman is Senior Lecturer in German and European Studies at Loughborough University. He has published widely on German political economy and modern German history,. He is currently working on a study of the political economy of taxation. He is also managing editor of the Journal of Contemporary European Studies and is a member of the editorial board of Debatte û Review of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe.