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Session 1: Social Market Economy – The German Experience

The Social Market Economy (SME) was developed in Germany as a third way to capitalism and socialism. It is not a combination of both. Its philosophy is to combine the efficiency of the market with equal social development. The biggest difference relates to the value system. Capitalism is about efficiency justice, socialism about distributional justice, and the Social Market Economy about opportunity justice. In order order to accomplish the objective of market efficiency with equal social development, both the state and the market must be subordinated to certain principles of economic policy. These principles refer to how competition is to be set up and how the state is supposed to supervise it. In this first session, the historical context of the German experience will be discussed and the principles of the Social Market Economy introduced.

Session 2: Social Market Economy – Can the German Experience be exported to Lebanon?

Combining the efficiency of the market with equal opportunity is the objective of the Social Market Economy. Lebanon is the only Arab country where a historically grown business elite survived independence. At the same time Lebanon is one of the most unequal countries in the world. It suggests itself therefore to see the Social Market Economy as a natural development model for Lebanon. The objective of the second session is to discuss the questions of what would take to implement the SME successfully, what it could accomplish, and what obstacles are likely to be in its way.