Till Düppe on Economics in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Episode 21

Ceteris Never Paribus: The History of Economic Thought Podcast

Guest: Till DüppeHosted and produced by Reinhard Schumacher In this episode, Till Düppe talks with Reinhard about the development of Economics in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), better known as East Germany – a state that existed from 1948 until 1990. We discuss Till’s general approach of historical epistemology of economics before discussing in detail the development of Marxist-Leninist economics in the GDR from its beginning to its abrupt end in 1990. Till also compares this system of knowledge with economics before and after the GDR. Additionally, we discuss some methodological approaches, such as Karl Mannheim’s concept of generations and institutional history. Till is an associate professor at the Department of Economics Sciences at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Articles by Till Düppe mentioned in this episode: Border Cases Between Autonomy and Relevance: Economic Sciences in Berlin – A Natural Experiment, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 2015.The Generation of the GDR: Economists at the Humboldt University of Berlin Caught Between Loyalty and Relevance, History of the Human Sciences, 2017.A Science Show Debate: How the Stasi Staged Revisionism, Contemporary European History, 2020. Also mentioned in this episode is Episode 12 with Adam Leeds on the Development of Soviet and Russian Economics.