West Germany Economic Miracle (Essay Sample)

WEST GERMANY ECONOMIC MIRACLE
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Germany came out of World War II (WWII) as an economically wrecked country, but she managed to face her challenges to become an economic empire. The situation, as Brockmann, illustrates, changed immediately at the end of the war that ravaged Germany and Austria significantly. West Germany experienced a period of unprecedented economic growth that saw the transformation of the country from a small economy into one of the leading economies in the world. Paxton and Hessler term Sociale Wirtschaftswunder as a depiction of how an ideal social market economy can operate. Tax reduction and replacement of legal tender were the recipes for the economic miracle that lasted for over a decade from WWII. Although some scholars term the economic boom of West Germany as a reconstruction, all evidence point out to the fact that the transformation was an economic miracle, given the massive scale and short time of the revolution.[Stephen Brockmann, A Critical History of German Film (Rochester, N.Y: Camden House, 2010), 288, 289.] [Robert Paxton and Julie Hessler, Europe in the Twentieth Century (Boston: Cengage Learning, 2011), 443, 444.]
Barry and Ritschl argue that West Germany’s economic transformation from 1950 to 1959 was a miracle. The GDP of West Germany increased steadily by 8% every year during the period. The sustained economic growth of West Germany emanated from pro-market reforms and socio-economic overhauls. West Germans worked hard to reconstruct industries, as their government implemented tax reforms. According to Brockmann, the German economy was ruined after 1945 that the successive economic progress appeared like a miracle. During and immediately after WWII, Germany was a backward country in regards to her economy. However, West Germans embarked on a robust rebuilding mission through the 1950s. By 1960, most of the cities in West Germany were at par with leading cities in the United States and Europe. NATO allies compelled West Germany to pay reparations for the damages caused during World War II.[Barry Eichengreen and Albrecht Ritschl, "Understanding West German Economic Growth in the 1950s," Cliometrica 3, no. 3 (2008): 191 and 193, accessed September 6, 2015. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/22304/1/WP113.pdf] [Brockmann, A Critical History of German Film, 289.]
According to Paxton and Hessler, political and economic stimulants led to the economic miracle that West Germany encountered in the 1950s. West Germans remained united in the spirit of rebuilding their beloved country. Besides, the Western Allies had forsaken the war-torn country to collapse. This move stimulated the patriotic citizens to embark on a reconstruction. Migrants from Eastern Europe entered West Germany and they provided cheap labor that West Germany needed desperately for her economic revival. WWII came with severe impacts that West Germany cut down her military funding. At the same time, the war in Korea drove the demand for West German machines up. West Germany exploited her opportunities by increasing public investment, adopting viable economic plans. The economic miracle came as a surprise in the form of Sociale Wirtschaftswunder, perhaps because of West Germany’s tight social security measures.[Paxton and Hessler, Europe in the Twentieth Century, 443.]
Paxton and Hessler state that although West Germans focused on rebuilding their country, the significant economic impacts of their country spread across Europe. West Europeans countries wanted to rebuild their wrecked economies in the aftermath of World War II. West Germany led by example in the reconstruction effort. The economic revival of West Germany was both political and economic because it put Germany on the Global map as...