Cold start (book)
Kaltstart is a scientific publication by Hans-Werner Sinn and Gerlinde Sinn, published as a book and first published in 1991 by Mohr Siebeck Verlag .
content
In this work, the two economists analyze the economic aspects of German reunification . The publication, which was not only written for economists, received extensive echo in politics and the media and is considered to be one of the most comprehensive analyzes of the economic consequences of the system transformation in East Germany . Revised editions of the book appeared in 1992 and 1993.
The book was published in English in 1992 and 1993 and also in Korean, French and Russian in 1994.
The authors apply Marx's system of social analysis to the collapse of the GDR and state that the crisis of the “material economic basis” made a renewal of the “ideological superstructure” necessary. At the moment when the communist-planned economy system could no longer guarantee this basis for an industrial society based on the division of labor, the market economy-capitalist system had to take its place. Marxism confirmed itself through its abolition. In addition, the Marxist historical fatalism of the elites in the Eastern Bloc countries made the revolution easier: Knowledge of the course of revolutionary processes there gave rise to the insight not to oppose the course of history.
The authors analyze the economic collapse of the former GDR economy and classify it as "unprecedented in recent economic history" with a two-thirds slump in industrial production. These so pronounced and rapid depression surpasses even the effects of the global economic crisis . The development in the GDR was much more serious than in the other former Comecon countries. The Sinn couple attribute the extreme underutilization of the East German economy, which led to unemployment rates of up to a third, to various errors in economic policy. In contrast to other economists, they do not blame an excessively high exchange rate for the currency reform for the crisis, but rather the policy of rapid wage equalization by the state and trade unions and the lack of clarification of property rights .
Serious mistakes were made in the privatization of the former state-owned companies, which is an indispensable prerequisite for the development of a functioning market economy. In addition to the excessive unit labor costs, the authors identify in rem restitution as the greatest brake on the privatization of businesses. The provision included in the Unification Treaty at the instigation of the FDP , according to which property expropriated by the GDR should be returned to the previous owners, led to unclear property rights and consequently to the prevention of investments. Since previous owners could bring a restitution action and this right was exercised in large numbers, the courts were overloaded and the proceedings dragged on for several years. The reversible expropriations affected around 300,000 properties and around 20,000 companies, for which around two million requests for reimbursement were made, of which 11,200 were for companies.
The lack of land registers and the lack of competence of the heirs of long ago expropriated company owners to run a business are further major hurdles for privatization. The authors argue for the compensation of the previous owners to take precedence over the restitution of the objects. In addition, the Treuhandanstalt should retain residual stakes in the company in order to avoid a drop in prices on the market for companies that would result from the overloading of the west German capital market. In addition, company shares should be available for distribution to the East German population.
reception
Wolfram Engels , editor of Wirtschaftswoche, described Kaltstart as the “only thorough analysis.” Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker asked the book to talk to the authors about the problems of reunification. Peter Bofinger , who is extremely critical of Sinn's economic standpoint, describes it in his book We Are Better Than We Believe as "very informative" when describing the political error of massively subsidizing capital instead of labor in East Germany.
Web links
- Literature from and about Kaltstart in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ 1993 as paperback at dtv, ISBN 978-3423058568
- ↑ Jumpstart. The Economic Unification of Germany. MIT Press, 1992.
- ↑ Meaning: short version of the curriculum vitae
- ↑ Kaltstart , 1993, pp. 1-7
- ↑ Kaltstart , 1993, p. 102