Money, Markets, and the State: Social Democratic Economic Policies since 1918

Numerous Social Democrats undeniably believe that mass-unemployment is the main scourge of the market economy. Yet, social democratic policies for full-employment have met with strikingly different levels of success. Money, Markets, and the State provides in-depth explanations behind the various successes and failures of the economic policies of social democratic governments in five Western European countries: Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands. Dr Notermans examines these economic systems from the inflation of the early twenties, through the Great Depression of the thirties, and then continues his analysis up to present day mass-unemployment. Drawing on a wide range of historical and statistical sources, Dr Notermans argues that the fate of social democratic economic policy hinges critically on the political and institutional success of maintaining price stability, and not on structural economic factors such as changing supply side conditions or increasing globalization of economic relations. Although social democracy has repeatedly been declared obsolete, the study concludes that even under present economic conditions, successful policies for full-employment are possible by way of social democratic theory.