Fifty years ago, the German economist Wilhelm Röpke (October 10, 1899 to February 12, 1966) died. He was a leading figure of classical-liberal Christian humanism which contributed to the development of the so-called social market economy in the aftermath of the tragedy of the Second World War. Indeed, the â??Great Warâ? (World War I) had already directed his studies towards an integrated consideration of the economy and socio-political phenomena. He had become convinced that the rejection of war and nationalism would bring scholars in economics to reject the conservative and imperialist order of that time and take a stand oriented to free markets and the rule of law.
After some success with the publication of Krise und Konjunktur (1932) and with the rise of Hitler in 1933, he left Germany to teach economics at the University of Istanbul. In 1936, he published the book Crises and Cycles in English, followed a year later by Die Lehre von der Wirtschaft. Also in 1937, he moved to Geneva to head the Institut des Haute Etudes Internationales. Here he met intellectuals such as Ludwig von Mises, Hans Kelsen, Guglielmo Ferrero, and Luigi Einaudi. From these years come masterpieces such as The Social Crisis of Our Time (1942), Civitas humana, a humane order of society (German subtitle: The Fundamental Problems of Social and Economic Reform) (1944) and The International Order (1945). In 1947, along with Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich August von Hayek, he brought to life the Mont Pelerin Society, an international association of liberal social scientists, whose presidency he assumed in 1961. In 1958, he published his perhaps best known book, widely regarded as his spiritual testament, Beyond Supply and Demand.
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