Wolfgang Stützel
Wolfgang Stützel | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 January 1925 |
| Died | 1 March 1987 (aged 62) |
| Nationality | German |
| Academic background | |
| Influences | John Maynard Keynes |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Economics, Monetary economics, Macroeconomics |
| Institutions | 1945–52 University of Tübingen 1952–53 London School of Economics 1953–56 Berliner Bank 1957–58 German Federal Bank 1958–87 Saarland University 1966–68 German Council of Economic Experts |
| Notable ideas | Balances Mechanics of Economics, Paradoxes of competition |
| Awards | Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economics Journalism, Honorary doctorate University of Tübingen, Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany |
Wolfgang Stützel (23 January 1925, in Aalen, Germany – 1 March 1987, in Saarbrücken, West Germany) was a German economist and professor of economics at the Saarland University, Germany. From 1966 to 1968 he was member of the German Council of Economic Experts (German: Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung).
He coined the concept of Macroeconomic Mechanics of Balances (German: Volkswirtschaftliche Saldenmechanik).
Among other things, balances mechanics enabled the theories of John Maynard Keynes in which he argued that government deficit spending can be necessary during a deflationary depression to be placed on a formal, structural arithmetic foundation based on accounting identities. Stützel used balances mechanics to explain how a deflationary depression results from aggregate planned revenues from sales of goods being greater than aggregate planned expenditures on purchasing goods. He also showed on the same basis how an inflationary exuberance results from aggregate planned expenditures for purchasing goods being greater than aggregate planned revenues from sales of goods. He, therefore, not only explained the validity of Keynes' theory of demand-driven output and employment but also showed that it applies only in the special case of a buyer's market situation.