After World War II, Germany experienced an exceptional period of economic growth known as 'economic miracle' (Wirtschaftswunder). This golden age of the 1950s and 1960s was based on a new economic order trying to combine the market economy with elements of a strong welfare state. This economic model has become known as 'social market economy'.
One of the founding fathers and key thinkers behind this model was professor Alfred Müller-Armack. It was in fact him who coined the term 'Soziale Marktwirtschaft' in his book 'economic governance and market economy' published in 1947.
When Franz Schoser did a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Cologne in 1959, Müller-Armack was his supervisor. Franz wrote his doctoral thesis on one of the key topics of the social market economy, namely competition policy. In his subsequent professional life, in particular as secretary general of the German chambers of commerce, Franz continued to promote the fundamental principles of the social market economy. This has now earned him the Müller-Armack medal for merit awarded since 1964 to renowned politicans and academics defending the values of the social market economy. A former prize winner and former president of Germany Horst Köhler holds the eulogy.