Who is Wilhelm Röpke?

In this episode, Shawn Ritenour answers the question, “Who is Wilhelm Röpke?” A German economist, Röpke contributed to the theoretical structure and political vision of the Austrian school, warning of the dangers of political consolidation and underscoring the connection between culture and economic systems.

Röpke opposed collectivism and centralization of power in all of its forms. In his own words, he became a “fervent hater of war, of brutal and stupid national pride, of the greed for domination and of every collective outrage against ethics.” He warned against Keynesian full-employment policies and he developed a theory of repressed inflation. He argued that inflation was merely a Keynesian means of transferring wealth.

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