Germany's economic profile as a late developer has always been export-oriented manufacturing; so it was natural for Germany's postwar economic elites to focus on the reconstruction of export capacities and the recovery of export markets as a way to achieve the rapid growth they sought. Ordoliberals may have sought to preserve smalland middle-sized firms and feared cartels, but they had no problem with large firms per se, especially those that were able to produce export-led growth. But export-led growth requires a strict policy of cost competitiveness, which in turn requires wage control through the restriction of consumption and a strong anti-inflationary stance. This further strengthened the hand of the monetary authority over the fiscal authority, as controlling inflation became the monetary complement to ensuring competition.

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 368