ABSTRACT
Rapid political, economic, and social transformations shaped the immediate post-war years, from the late 1940s to the early 1950s. The economic misery of 1945 to 1949 was followed by a period of rapid economic recovery, the famed “economic miracle” (Wirtschaftswunder). The labor market situation turned from mass unemployment in the late 1940s to full employment in the late 1950s (Schmidt 1998: 68). The focus in social policymaking also changed. During the early post-war period, policymakers focused on rebuilding the welfare state institutions that the Nazis had left financially broken. This period constituted a critical juncture at which the course was set for subsequent developments. Attempts to transform the Bismarckian welfare state into a universal system failed, which set the stage for a reconstruction of the Bismarckian system of fragmented social insurance. After the reinstatement of the old programs in the late 1940s, the focus shifted to expanding benefit generosity.
