Röpke, Wilhelm (1899–1966)

Wilhelm Röpke, economist and author, was an economist of the Austrian School and a key influence on Ludwig Erhard, the economic minister of West Germany following World War II. [Page 441]Röpke was a professor of economics at the University of Marburg when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933. An outspoken critic of the Nazis, Röpke left his native Germany that same year to accept a position at the University of Istanbul. He remained in Turkey until 1937, when he joined the faculty of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, a post he held until his death in 1966.

Röpke's early writings were on business cycle theory. His views on the causes of economic downturns were largely consistent with the writings of F. ...