Das Gerechtigkeitsproblem in der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft

Abstract A “Social Market Economy” in the spirit of Ludwig Erhard is quite different from the present day economy which I call the Status Quo Economy. The Social Market Economy is substantially more deregulated, has a much smaller social security system, and a higher rate of innovation. It is argued that a transition to a “Social Market Economy” could raise the income of all income strata. Therefore using the Rawls criterion of justice, the Social Market Economy is more just than the Status Quo Economy, even though inequality is likely to be larger.