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Making and Unmaking Money: Economic Planning and the Collapse of East Germany
- Source :
- Zatlin, Jonathan R. (2007). Making and Unmaking Money: Economic Planning and the Collapse of East Germany. Institute of European Studies. UC Berkeley: Institute of European Studies. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/44h5r8sz
- Publication Year :
- 2007
-
Abstract
- This paper locates the collapse of East German communism in Marxist-Leninist monetary theory. By exploring the economic and cultural functions of money in East Germany, it argues that the communist party failed to reconcile its ideological aspirations ­ a society free of the social alienation represented by money and merchandise ­ with the practical exigencies of governing an industrial society by force. Using representative examples of market failure in production and consumption, the paper shows how the party’s deep-seated hostility to money led to economic inefficiency and waste. Under Honecker, the party sought to improve living standards by trading political liberalization for West German money. Over time, however, this policy devalued the meaning of socialism by undermining the actual currency, facilitating the communist collapse and overdetermining the pace and mode of German unification.
- Subjects :
- Center for German and European Studies
finance
integration
CGES
IES
working paper
European studies
Center for German and European Studies, CGES, culture, economy, euro, European studies, finance, IES, Institute of European studies, institutions, integration, international, occasional papers, political, society, working paper
culture
economy
society
Institute of European studies
international
euro
institutions
political
occasional papers
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Zatlin, Jonathan R. (2007). Making and Unmaking Money: Economic Planning and the Collapse of East Germany. Institute of European Studies. UC Berkeley: Institute of European Studies. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/44h5r8sz
- Accession number :
- edsair.dedup.wf.001..0bb05f3d93a9b122d2f78a50c417903b