Ordoliberalism and the social market economy

[Introduction] Contrary to its usage in current political discourse, the term neoliberalism originally referred to those schools of economic thought that opposed laissez-faire liberalism and wanted to assign a more active role to the state. Faced with the economic turmoil of the late 19th and early 20th century - including the poverty of the working class, concentrations of power in the hand of large corporations and multiple monetary and economic crises - neoliberals posited that the government should intervene in private markets in order to uphold competition. [...]