The warnings sounding today of Germany's deindustrialization resemble a distant echo of warnings heard half a century ago during the oil crisis.
In both cases, a significant increase in the price of energy takes place in a deep transition phase.
In the 1970s, standardized industrial mass production (“Fordism”) had passed its peak.
Given the demographics of the time, the crisis was accompanied by mass unemployment.
The increase in energy prices of our time is accompanied by a digital revolution with as yet unknown effects on productivity.
However, demographics could ensure that a recession is accompanied by a demand for work.
The crisis of the 1970s was followed by a renaissance of free-market thinking in the 1980s because the states were overwhelmed.
The challenges are different today, but again the states seem overwhelmed.
A new renaissance of the market economy is needed.