The Short Rise and Long Fall of Heterodox Economics in Germany After the 1970s: Explorations in a Scientific Field of Power and Struggle

:In the context of ongoing criticisms of the lack of pluralism in economics, we discuss the development of “heterodox” economics since the 1970s in Germany. Following Imre Lakatos’s concept of scientific research programs (SRP), we examine some classifications of economics, specifying the understanding of diversity in light of the “axiomatic variations” of mainstream economics. This forms the basis for our subsequent description of the development of heterodoxy in Germany, with special reference to the founding of new universities and the reform movements in the 1970s. We show that the heterodox scene flourished in this period, but that this pluralization remained fragmented and short-lived, so that by the 1980s heterodoxy was on its way to becoming marginalized again. The history of heterodoxy in Germany thus presents itself as an unequal “battle of the paradigms,” and can only be told as a story of failure.