„Be Erhard !“ Ludwig Erhard at Wall Street

During the 2009 financial crisis, the Initiative for a New Social Market Economy (INSM) wanted to draw attention to the economic success story of the Federal Republic of Germany and at the same time demonstrate a possible way out of the crisis. With her speech celebrating the Federal Republic’s 60th anniversary, Chancellor Angela Merkel repeated her call for the social market economy to become Germany’s most popular export.

The INSM took a first step towards this goal with an incisive placard near the New York Stock Exchange. An actor playing Ludwig Erhard, former Minister of Economics, former Chancellor and father of the German “Wirtschaftswunder”, promoted the principles of the social market economy – freedom, order and responsibility – at a site well known to the public as the world’s most important financial market: Wall Street.

How the social market economy may act as a global role model for other countries was underpinned scientifically by Dr. Tim Stuchtey, Director of the Business and Economics Program at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies.

Press Contact:

Julia Saalmann: Phone: + 49 (0) 30 - 27877 178, saalmann@insm.de
Inga Neumann: Phone: + 49 (0) 30 - 700186 783, inga.neumann@s-f.com