64; k q € monopolistic or oligopolistic tendencies including its own. The term "Social" is stressed ˜ q l ˜ because West Germans wanted an economy that would not only help the wealthy but also l j care for the workers and other who might not prove able to cope with the strenuous 8 j i competitive demands of a market economy. The term "social" was chosen rather than ( i r "socialist" to distinguish" their system from those in which the state claims the right to r * direct the economy. * p The economic reforms and the new West German system received powerful ( p i ( support from a number of sources. Largest was the Marshall plan, an United States : @ i o @ program of financial assistance that helped to rebuild West Europe. After World War II X o k X all of Europe was devastated and needed help. The West German boom began in 1950. " p k k p The growth rate of the industrial production was 25.0% in 1950 and 18.1% in 1951" ( ! ˆ k $ ˆ # # # # $ r o Keesing pg 5 ) It continued at a high rate through 1950s. By 1960 industrial J r n production had reason to twice the amount of the 1950s. This was far beyond even what 0 n l 0 Nazis had done in the 1930s, in all of Germany. The number of persons employed rose H l l H from 13.8 million in the 1950s to 19.8 million in the 1960s. Unemployment went down ` l j ` from 10.3% to 1.2%. Labor also benefited from the boom. Although wage demands and x j k x pay increases had been slow at first. Wages and salaries rose 80% between 1949 and & k k 1955. In 1957 West Germany gained a new central bank , the Deutshe Bundesbank. This k f bank replaced the old Deut...
