World Export Champions

In the 1986 World Cup final, the German national football team was beaten 3–2 by Diego Maradona’s Argentinian squad. Nevertheless, the West Germans could feel like world champions, because in that year, for the first time, the Federal Republic exported more goods than any other country. Germany was the »world export champion« – number one in a discipline that does not just form the foundations of the country’s prosperity: Germany’s export strength has also become a key source of national pride and an indication of the excellent reputation of goods that are »made in Germany.«

Economic historian Jan-Otmar Hesse traces this success story, a product of the incredible adaptability of German companies and export-friendly government policies. Important foundations for subsequent developments were back in the late nineteenth century. The Weimar Republic created the initial structures for supporting the export economy, while postwar monetary policy strengthened West Germany’s capacity to compete on a global scale. Told in a captivating style and featuring many previously unknown details, World Export Champions details how workshops and factories became global players, and how a country poor in raw materials became the economic superpower it is today.

»The real highlight of the book is its sober survey of the facts, with a focus on the foreign trade policy of West Germany. [...] This extremely stimulating study reconstructs the long historical entanglements that are central to understanding Germany’s current economic policy.« Hartmut Berghoff, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung