Prof. Franz Josef Stegmann Bethlehem Social ... - Ordo Socialis

Stegmann
Economic Competition
and Social Justice*
"The framework is the main place where
morality in modern market economy is
to be situated"
INTRODUCTION
Let me begin with reference to my native country, and its recent history. World War Two saw
the defeat of Germany, its industry destroyed and its economic structure ruined. I was about
15 years old at the time and remember this well. Even in the early 1950s when I attended
university, the situation was still quite bad. For example, we could not enter Munich
University through the main entrance because there was a huge bomb crater which had not yet
been filled. During winter, each student had to bring a bundle of wood every week to heat the
stoves of the lecture halls because the automatic heating system, destroyed by bombs, was
still out of order. I have many more similar memories of those dark years. Within a period of
15 to 20 years, however, Germany's post-war reconstruction of its economy was successful.
Today the Federal Republic of Germany enjoys strong economic power. At the same time,
what is as astonishing or, as I see it, more astonishing, is its unusually high social level. Some
criticise it as being too high; and even compared with many industrialised countries,
Germany's social structure is surprisingly stable. Next to Japan, the number of strike days is
one of the lowest in industrialised countries.
Germany certainly faced many economic problems, particularly in recent years. Take for
instance the problems caused by unification. Since 1990, about DM150 billion (R450 billion)
have been and are annually transferred to the former communist German Democratic Republic
to reconstruct its ruined economy. Then there are problems caused by the reversed population
pyramid, whereby the same number of people in the workforce must bear the costs for
an increasingly older population. Added to this are the problems caused by economic globalisation.
Owing to the high wage level, many companies transfer factories from Germany to
Eastern Europe or — particularly during recent years — to South East Asia, where wages are
much lower. Nevertheless, economic and social standards are remarkably high, and the socalled
"social net” is tense and tight — again some criticise: too tight.
Many factors contributed positively to Germany's economic and social post-war
reconstruction. An example is aid from the United States via the Marshall Plan during the first
post-war years. 0ne of the most important factors, however, was the general policy of
economic competition as a main part of Social Market Economy. (The second paper in this
volume entitled Social Market Economy and Christian Social Teaching deals with this economic
system.) The issue of economic competition and its relationship to social justice will he
the focus of this paper.
Are market economy and economic competition on the one hand, and social justice and
morality on the other, contradictory, as it seems at first glance and is often asserted?
Another reason for dealing with the relations between economic competition and social justice
is just as important. Until recent times, a naive belief in progress was often dominant. It
was believed that almost all problems could be solved by political, economic, scientific or
other means. Today, problems such as underdevelopment, unemployment, environmental pol-
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