13 Facts About Walter Eucken

The Walter Eucken Institut was founded four years after his death and his ideas influenced West Germany's economic policy.

Walter Eucken was born on 17 January 1891 in Jena in the German state of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, a son of the philosopher Rudolf Eucken, and his wife, Irene nee Passow, a painter.

Walter Eucken's father was one of the most influential philosophers of the German Empire and the winner of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Walter Eucken studied economics in Kiel, Bonn and Jena and was awarded his doctorate at Bonn in 1914.

Walter Eucken served as an officer in World War I on both the western and eastern fronts.

Walter Eucken joined the party, but left after one year, although he remained close to it.

Walter Eucken was associated with the movement later known as Conservative Revolutionary movement.

In 1925, Walter Eucken began working at the University of Tubingen and, in 1927, he moved to the University of Freiburg where he remained for the rest of his life.

Walter Eucken's ordoliberalism, which is a special German variant of neoliberalism, argues that the state has the task to provide the political framework for economic freedom to flourish.

Walter Eucken was vocal in his opposition of these policies in the university senate.

Walter Eucken attended the founding conference of the Mont Pelerin Society and was elected one of the vice-presidents.

Walter Eucken died of a heart attack on 20 March 1950 during a lecture series at the London School of Economics.

The thinktank, the Walter Eucken Institut, was founded four years after his death in Frieberg.