The further development of the social market economy beyond redistribution and social benefits

The backbone of the unbroken social stability and almost continuous economic growth of the Federal Republic of Germany is the economic and civil society framework of the social market economy. In the recent past, the social market economy has suffered from the fact that its framework conditions have not been consistently developed. In order to meet the most urgent challenges of our time, especially digitalisation, climate change and dealing with non-democratic societies, it is crucial to further develop the regulations, norms and institutions of the social market economy, some of which date back to the imperial era. Only through innovative reforms can the core cultural, social and ethical values of our society be preserved for the future so that future generations can pick them up, refine them and live on. This task is not only of economic importance. It is also crucial for our national self-image, our identity, our social cohesion, as well as for the role model function that the Federal Republic of Germany has in the world community as a model for a free, democratic and socially just country.
Within the framework of this project, our own research achievements in this subject area will be supplemented with legal policy proposals selected according to systematic criteria from legal economics, empirical legal research and institutional economics. In this way, a comprehensive concept for the further development of the social market economy beyond redistribution and social benefits will be developed.

Funding: Lighthouse project of the SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences 
Duration: 03/2023-05/2025
Project leaders: Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexander J. Wulf, Prof. Ian Towers, PhD, Dr. Sönke Häseler

Three main objectives of the project: 

• Develop proposals for the further development of the social market economy beyond redistribution and social benefits.
• To collect and make available to a wider public research results from the theoretical fields of legal economics, empirical legal research and institutional economics
• Developing a catalogue of measures for more social justice and more sustainable "prosperity for all