German economic history in the industrial age has classically formed an important basis for the study of economic growth and industrialisation more generally. This book aims to introduce English-language readers to modern German economic history based on a selection of work by one of Germany's leading economic and business historians, Werner Plumpe, who places particular emphasis on the institutional structure of the economy. Plumpe's work demonstrates that the country's economic evolution can only be understood by paying close attention to institutional peculiarities, such as the shape of industrial relations and the dynamics of corporate decision-making. It also emphasises the importance of the interconnectedness of capital and labour in the German coordinated market economy and draws attention to individual events and decisions that may have driven long-term economic development, but are rarely considered in approaches that deal primarily with macroeconomic growth.

German Economic and Business History from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day: Introductory Remarks.- Part I: Economic Ideas.- 1. Economic Thought and Economic Development: On the Linkage of Economic History and the Historical Semantics of the Economy.- 2. The Birth of the Homo Economicus: Historical Thoughts on the Origins and Significance of this Model of Human Behavior for the Modern Economy.- Part II: Business History.- 3. The Improbability of the Jubilee - Or: Why the Only Way to Shed Light on a Firm is through its History.- 4. Business and Industry under National Socialism - An Interim Report.- 5. 1968 and German firms: On Marking Out a Field of Research.- 6. The Economy of the Kaiserreich: Noteson the Genealogy of German Capitalism.- Part III: Economic History.- 7. The National Association of German Industry (RDI) and the Crisis of the Weimar Economy.- 8. The Economic and Corporate History of Nazism: Reflections from the Perspective of Systems Theory.- 9. Germany as an Industrial Country 1945-2008.- Part IV: The History of Industrial Relations.- 10. Capital and Labor: Concepts and Practice of Industrial Relations in the 20th Century.