Werner Abelshauser
Encyclopedia
Werner Abelshauser is a German economic historian
.
and graduated in 1970. He received his PhD at Ruhr University Bochum in 1973 with his dissertation on West German
economy 1945-1948. In 1980 he was appointed as Professor for economic and social history in Bochum
. From 1983 to 1988 he was acting director of the institute for the research on the European workers movement (IGA, now institute for social movements, ISB). He was visiting professor at Bielefeld
, Göttingen
, Cologne
, (Germany), Oxford
(United Kingdom), Florence
(Italy
), St. Louis, Missouri (United States
) and Sydney
(Australia
). From 1988 to 1991 he held the chair in European History of the 20th century at the European University Institute
(EUI) in Florence
. Since 1991 he is heading the chair in Economic history
at Bielefeld University
. He is member of the Institute for Research on Science and Technology and founding member of the Bielefeld Institute for Global Society Studies. He is among the editors of the journal “Geschichte und Gesellschaft” (History and Society), the leading journal of history as social science, and the Journal of Comparative Government and European Policy (ZSE).
” (the so-called economic miracle of the early federal republic) that included the relevant sources for that topic. Its findings put into perspective the impact of the Marshall Plan
, the monetary reform of 1948 and Ludwig Erhard’s
model of social market economy as the crucial forces behind the comeback of the West German economy in the 1950s. Instead the study points out the importance of the specific circumstances of reconstruction of the West German economy, which could not be reproduced after the ‘long’ 1950s.
Most of Abelshauser’s arguments were first fiercely criticized by historians as well as in prominent public newspapers like the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
. Today his thesis is broadly accepted in the field. The news weekly “Die Zeit
” concluded in 1996 that Abelshauser rewrote the economic history of the Federal Republic. His book “Deutsche Wirtschaftsgeschichte seit 1945” (German economic history since 1945, newly published 2004) is among the benchmarks of German economic history.
Abelshauser’s second field of research is business history
. His work on the history of the chemical company BASF
(2004, German original edition 2002, 2003, 2007) and on the history of the steel giant Krupp
during the Third Reich
(2002) is core literature for the “new business history” (Hans-Ulrich Wehler
) and was crucial for the emergence of this new discipline. Here, Abelshauser focuses on specific and historically established cultures of the companies and their economic importance for current business decisions.
A third field is the reaction of the German social system of production to the second economic revolution (see Douglass C. North
). According to Abelshauser, Globalization
and scientification at the end of the 19th century created “new industries” that focused on immaterial production. During that time a set of economic institutions were established which still shape the German economy. His Volume “The Dynamics of German Industry” (2005, German original edition 2002, Jap. edition 2009) interprets historic and recent pressures on these institutions as part of a struggle between two different systems of capitalism
s (American vs. “Rhenish” i.e. European Capitalism). His thesis, which - up to the financial crisis of 2008 - was standing against the scientific and public mainstream, gives him the reputation of a prominent supporter of the German/European model of capitalism in the era of Globalization
.
Recently, Abelshausers focus turned towards scientific biography. As shown in his work on Hans Matthoefer (2009), he aims to find out, under which conditions people change their way of thinking and acting and, by doing so, help to create new economic, political or social institutions. With his biographical approach Abelshauser added a new method to the corpus of the school of New Institutional Economics.
Economic history
Economic history is the study of economies or economic phenomena in the past. Analysis in economic history is undertaken using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and by applying economic theory to historical situations and institutions...
.
Life
Abelshauser studied economics at the University of MannheimUniversity of Mannheim
The University of Mannheim is one of the younger German universities. It offers Bachelor, Master, and PhD degrees.The University is mainly located in Mannheim’s palace the largest baroque palace in Germany. The whole city center of Mannheim is aligned symmetrically to the palace.About 800 scholars...
and graduated in 1970. He received his PhD at Ruhr University Bochum in 1973 with his dissertation on West German
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
economy 1945-1948. In 1980 he was appointed as Professor for economic and social history in Bochum
Bochum
Bochum is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area and is surrounded by the cities of Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne, Castrop-Rauxel, Dortmund, Witten and Hattingen.-History:...
. From 1983 to 1988 he was acting director of the institute for the research on the European workers movement (IGA, now institute for social movements, ISB). He was visiting professor at Bielefeld
Bielefeld
Bielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...
, Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, (Germany), Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
(United Kingdom), Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
(Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
), St. Louis, Missouri (United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) and Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
(Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
). From 1988 to 1991 he held the chair in European History of the 20th century at the European University Institute
European University Institute
The European University Institute ' in Florence is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute established by European Union member states to contribute to cultural and scientific development in the social sciences, in a European perspective...
(EUI) in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. Since 1991 he is heading the chair in Economic history
Economic history
Economic history is the study of economies or economic phenomena in the past. Analysis in economic history is undertaken using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and by applying economic theory to historical situations and institutions...
at Bielefeld University
Bielefeld University
Bielefeld University is a university in Bielefeld, Germany. Founded in 1969, it is one of the country's newer universities, and considers itself a "reform" university, following a different style of organization and teaching than the established universities...
. He is member of the Institute for Research on Science and Technology and founding member of the Bielefeld Institute for Global Society Studies. He is among the editors of the journal “Geschichte und Gesellschaft” (History and Society), the leading journal of history as social science, and the Journal of Comparative Government and European Policy (ZSE).
Focus of Research
Abelshauser’s dissertation (published 1975) was the first theory-based thesis on the causes of the German “WirtschaftswunderWirtschaftswunder
The term describes the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II . The expression was used by The Times in 1950...
” (the so-called economic miracle of the early federal republic) that included the relevant sources for that topic. Its findings put into perspective the impact of the Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to combat the spread of Soviet communism. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948...
, the monetary reform of 1948 and Ludwig Erhard’s
Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...
model of social market economy as the crucial forces behind the comeback of the West German economy in the 1950s. Instead the study points out the importance of the specific circumstances of reconstruction of the West German economy, which could not be reproduced after the ‘long’ 1950s.
Most of Abelshauser’s arguments were first fiercely criticized by historians as well as in prominent public newspapers like the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...
. Today his thesis is broadly accepted in the field. The news weekly “Die Zeit
Die Zeit
Die Zeit is a German nationwide weekly newspaper that is highly respected for its quality journalism.With a circulation of 488,036 and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper...
” concluded in 1996 that Abelshauser rewrote the economic history of the Federal Republic. His book “Deutsche Wirtschaftsgeschichte seit 1945” (German economic history since 1945, newly published 2004) is among the benchmarks of German economic history.
Abelshauser’s second field of research is business history
Business history
Business history is the branch of economic history that deals with the history of business organizations, methods, government regulation, labor relations, and impact on society. It also includes biographies of individual companies and entrepreneurs....
. His work on the history of the chemical company BASF
BASF
BASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Germany. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik . Today, the four letters are a registered trademark and the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock...
(2004, German original edition 2002, 2003, 2007) and on the history of the steel giant Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
during the Third Reich
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
(2002) is core literature for the “new business history” (Hans-Ulrich Wehler
Hans-Ulrich Wehler
Hans-Ulrich Wehler is a German historian known for his role in promoting social history through the "Bielefeld School", and for his critical studies of 19th century Germany.-Career:...
) and was crucial for the emergence of this new discipline. Here, Abelshauser focuses on specific and historically established cultures of the companies and their economic importance for current business decisions.
A third field is the reaction of the German social system of production to the second economic revolution (see Douglass C. North
Douglass North
Douglass Cecil North is an American economist known for his work in economic history. He is the co-recipient of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences...
). According to Abelshauser, Globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
and scientification at the end of the 19th century created “new industries” that focused on immaterial production. During that time a set of economic institutions were established which still shape the German economy. His Volume “The Dynamics of German Industry” (2005, German original edition 2002, Jap. edition 2009) interprets historic and recent pressures on these institutions as part of a struggle between two different systems of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
s (American vs. “Rhenish” i.e. European Capitalism). His thesis, which - up to the financial crisis of 2008 - was standing against the scientific and public mainstream, gives him the reputation of a prominent supporter of the German/European model of capitalism in the era of Globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
.
Recently, Abelshausers focus turned towards scientific biography. As shown in his work on Hans Matthoefer (2009), he aims to find out, under which conditions people change their way of thinking and acting and, by doing so, help to create new economic, political or social institutions. With his biographical approach Abelshauser added a new method to the corpus of the school of New Institutional Economics.
Works
- German Industry and Global Enterprise. (BASF: The History of a Company), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York 2004, ISBN 0-521-82726-4.
- The Dynamics of German Industry. Germany’s Path toward the New Economy and the American Challenge, Berghahnbooks, New York, Oxford 2005, ISBN 1-84545-072-8, Jap. edition: Keizaibunka no tousou, 3rd, enlarged edition of the German original, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo 2009, ISBN 978-4-13-040246-0.
- Deutsche Wirtschaftsgeschichte seit 1945. C. H. Beck Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51094-9. Jap. edition: Gendai Doitsu Keizairon, Asashi Shuppansha, Tokyo 1994, ISBN 4-255-94003-7.
- Wirtschaft in Westdeutschland 1945-1948. Rekonstruktion und Wachstumsbedingungen in der amerikanischen und britischen Zone, Diss., Universität Bochum, Abteilung für Geschichtswissenschaft; also: DVA, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-421-01714-X
- Wirtschaft und Rüstung in den Fünfziger Jahren. (Anfänge westdeutscher Sicherheitspolitik 1945–1956), Bd. 4/1, ed. by Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1997. Reprint 2001, ISBN 3-486-50882-2.
- Rüstungsschmiede der Nation? Der Kruppkonzern im Dritten Reich und in der Nachkriegszeit 1933–1951.(=Part III of L. Gall (ed.), Krupp im 20. Jahrhundert. Die Geschichte des Unternehmens vom Ersten Weltkrieg bis zur Gründung der Stiftung), Siedler Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-88680-742-8.
- Des Kaisers neue Kleider? Wandlungen der sozialen Marktwirtschaft (=Roman Herzog Institut, Position 7), München 2009, ISBN 978-3-941036-06-2.
- Nach dem Wirtschaftswunder. Der Gewerkschafter, Politiker und Unternehmer Hans Matthoefer, Dietz Verlag, Bonn 2009, ISBN 978-3-8012-4171-1.