ABSTRACT
The future viability of ordoliberalism derives from its proximity to constitutional economics. The “new German Methodenstreit” began when the University of Cologne replaced several chairs for economic policy with a macroeconomics research group. The difficulty of using positive economic analysis for practical purposes while maintaining its scientific rigor will, in the following, be illustrated by the example of German ordoliberalism. A methodological debate in German ordoliberalism had long been overdue. Gebhard Kirchgässner criticizes ordoliberalism from the perspective of public choice theory. Voigt, S. remains relatively vague as to the implications of his analysis for ordoliberalism. N. Goldschmidt aims to modernize ordoliberalism by stressing the normative convictions that, according to him, the work of the Freiburg School is based on. Ordoliberalism originates from the so-called Freiburg School of the 1930s, a group of scholars at the University of Freiburg led by economist Walter Eucken and lawyer Franz Böhm.
