ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses West Germany's economic system and patterns of economic performance against the empirical background of economic outcomes from the 1950s through the late 1980s, as measured by annual growth rates, inflation, and unemployment levels. It addresses the uncertain effects of democratizing changes during the late 1980s in Eastern Europe and the projected completion of an internal market within the European Community by the end of 1992 on future West German economic policy and performance. An additional feature of the German model is the willingness of party and group leaders to modify policy content as well as institutional arrangements in response to changing international and domestic conditions. For the foreseeable future, the central challenge confronting Germany's political and economic elites will be to devise a suitable strategy for reconciling the Federal Republic's crucial role in the Europeanization process with German unification.
