Title Socialism with a human face : using behavioural economics to understand East German economic history / Gary B. Magee, Wayne Geerling

Published Singapore : Palgrave Macmillan, 2022

Click on the following:
Springer eBooks

Copies

Description 1 online resource (1 volume) : illustrations (black and white, and color) Series Palgrave studies in economic history Palgrave studies in economic history. Contents Chapter 1: Perceptions -- Chapter 2: Making Decisions: Lessons from Behavioural Economics -- Chapter 3: Establishing the Socialist Workplace: Labour, Norms and the Introduction of Piecework -- Chapter 4: Learning from the Soviet Union Means Learning to Win: Group Technology and the Mitrofanov method -- Chapter 5: Searching for Socialist Efficiency: The Case of the Schwedt Initiative -- Chapter 6: Choosing Bankruptcy: The Onset of Debt and Financial Crisis -- Chapter 7: Conclusion Summary East Germanys economic history is typically told as a story of the unravelling of an inherently flawed system. Yet, while the systems inefficiency is undeniable, its economic history was much richer than its comparatively poor economic performance suggests. For many who lived there, it was a system that, over its forty years, was capable of achievements and generally functioned at bearable levels. This book combines the insights of behavioural economics with archival research to peel away layers of rhetoric and assumptions about the East German economy and explore aspects of that underlying functionality. Through a series of cases studies that examine the establishment of socialist workplaces, the searches for productivity growth and efficiency, and the emergence of financial crisis, the book considers the system from the perspective of the humans who operated it and made the decisions that made it work. Unencumbered by political preconceptions, it offers a more realistic understanding of East German economic history than that derived from stagnant debates about the clash of systems. The new perspectives and approaches presented demonstrate that, extracted from its Cold War context, East Germanys economic history can be analysed for what it was, rather than for what it symbolised. Gary B. Magee is a Professor of Economics at Monash University, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He has published widely in the fields of economic history, history and historical political economics. Wayne Geerling is an Associate Professor at Monash University. His expertise lies in European economic history. He has published widely in leading peer-reviewed journals in the fields of economics, economic history and history. He is the author (with Gary B. Magee) of Quantifying Resistance: Political Crime and the Peoples Court in Nazi Germany (2018) Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Economics -- Psychological aspects. Economic history Economics -- Psychological aspects SUBJECT Germany (East) -- Economic conditions Germany (East) -- History. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85054666 Subject Germany (East) Genre/Form History Form Electronic book Author Geerling, Wayne, author. ISBN 9789811906640 9811906645

  Permalink