ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes an analysis of the pre-neoliberal capitalism of the 1950s and 1960s. Adopting a historical approach, it shows how the wartime economies set up in response to the economic and social crises of the 1930s forced most capitalist countries to implement formal and informal institutions to control the prices of the means of production. This included interest rates, currency exchange rates and the cost of labour, raw materials, and agricultural goods. It also explains how the post-war German economy chose a different path marked by the influence of ordoliberal ideas, and how it benefitted from the economic protection provided by the regulated capitalism prevalent in the rest of the world. Finally, it is shown that, contrary to neoliberal ideas, this “embedded capitalism” proved itself to be largely efficient both socially and economically.
