Walter Eucken is regarded as the founding father of German ordoliberalism, developed by the Freiburg school of economists. The core element of ordoliberalism is competition – not classical, unrestrained competition but protected, ordered competition. The ordoliberals’ objective was always to provide a stable framework for competition, not to actively manage it.

This idea was taken up and modified by the proponents of the social market economy. They identified a need for government economic