Financing Problems of the German Mittelstand and Banking Institutions in the Policy Coordination of the Federal Ministry of Economy in West Germany, 1955-1963

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K03773
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Economic history
• Research Institution: Shiga University
• Principal Investigator: Mitsuishi Ikuo 滋賀大学, 経済学部, 教授 (50174066)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: ドイツ / 戦後 / 中間層 / 中小企業 / 構造変化 / 貯蓄銀行 / 信用協同組合 / 競争政策

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This paper examines how German Mittelstand businesses, or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including the Handwerk (craft sector) and retail trades, demanded medium- and long-term capital in the mid-1950s. Further, the work indicates how this demand was met by mobilizing capital from banking institutions, and especially from savings banks and credit cooperatives, under the regulatory framework and policy coordination of the Working Committee. The Federal Ministry of Economy established this committee with delegates from interested groups among the Mittelstand and financial institutions in West Germany.
Mittelstand firms suffered from a lack of capital, which was necessary to expand their production of goods and services. As the capital market was stabilized by the late 1950s, the financial support structure of the Mittelstand economy was built on regional savings banks and credit cooperatives, providing them access to external capital in the early 1960s.

Free Research Field

経済史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現代ドイツにおいて経済成長の原動力の一つと言われている中間層企業は、その競争力の源泉を、第一に熟練労働力養成システムとそれに基づく商品・サービスの質の高さ、第二にグローバルな経済競争とその構造変化に積極的に対応する経営力、第三に地域分散的な貯蓄銀行と信用協同組合による域内中間層経営を対象とした金融支援システム、そして第四にそれらを総合して経済システムを設計してきた政府と中間団体の経済秩序政策にもっている。本研究は、このうちとくに第3と第4の論点に焦点を当てて、その戦後的展開を分析し、市場経済の競争秩序維持と中間層企業および地域金融機関の相互関連性を明らかにしようとしたことに意義がある。