We evaluate explanations for why Germany grew so quickly in the 1950s. The recent literature has emphasized convergence, structural change and institutional shake-up while minimizing the importance of the postwar shock. We show that this shock and its consequences were more important than...

Die gegenwärtige Finanzkrise ruft uns in die Geschichte zurück. Sie weckt traumatische Erinnerungen an die Krise der 1930er Jahre, in deren Folge die Weimarer Republik unterging. Sie gibt zur Sorge Anlass, ob ein Konjunktureinbruch die Fundamente unserer Sozialsysteme in ähnlicher Weise...

Recent research on international productivity comparisons with historical data has encountered large discrepancies between benchmark comparisons and time series extrapolations from other benchmarks. Broadberry and Burhop (2005) have recently argued that for Hoffmann's (1965) widely accepted time...