Germans Associate the Social Market Economy with Fairness, Distribution, and a Social Safety Net
The majority of Germans associate the social market economy with social rather than market aspects. This is according to a representative survey of 2,000 citizens conducted by the Ludwig Erhard ifo Center for Social Market Economy and Institutional Economics in Fürth and the ifo Center for Public Finance and Political Economy. While 49 percent of respondents associate the term with fairness, distribution, and a social safety net, 34 percent identify it with market processes. Just under one-quarter of those surveyed associate the social market economy with both social and market aspects.
“Contrary to the original intention of viewing the social market economy as the combination of economic efficiency with social balance, the majority of citizens focus on one or the other aspect,” says Sarah Necker, Director of the Ludwig Erhard ifo Center for Social Market Economy and Institutional Economics. This focus on either social or market aspects can be explained either by the respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics or by their party preferences.
This analysis is based on a survey of German citizens between the ages of 18 and 70 conducted in August 2022. A total of 2,000 respondents participated in the survey, which is representative of the German population in terms of gender, geography, age, and income.
ifo Podcast
Social Market Economy under Pressure, Media Center – 6 December 2022, Prof. Sarah Necker
Publication (in German)
Die Soziale Marktwirtschaft aus Bevölkerungsperspektive II/III: Was verbindet die Bevölkerung mit der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft?
ifo Institut, München, 2022
ifo Schnelldienst, 2022, 75, Nr. 12, 35-39
