Economic Resilience A new concept for policy making? Bertelsmann Stiftung Inclusive Growth for Germany|11

Brinkmann, Henrik and Harendt, Christoph and Heinemann, Friedrich and Nover, Justus (2017) Economic Resilience A new concept for policy making? Bertelsmann Stiftung Inclusive Growth for Germany|11. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

The idea of “resilience” has in recent years gained a high level of popularity in the formulation of economic- policy objectives. Given the rapid sequence of serious crises, the rise of this concept is hardly surprising. If economic shocks are apparently unavoidable, then an economy’s ability to cope with them should be a subject of interest. However, the virtually inflationary use of the resilience concept has been accompanied by a lack of precision. In particular, there is often no clear understanding that alongside its static interpretation (retention of a system’s existing functions in the case of a crisis), crisis resilience also includes an adaptive dimension (adjustment to new surrounding conditions). Against this background, this article addresses the origin of the resilience concept, illustrates its various usages in different disciplines, and distinguishes it from other key words (“vulnerability,” “sustainability,” “stability”). On this basis, the resilience concept is given additional precision and defined in a manner useful for the economic- policy perspective. A central conclusion is that the concept of resilience can become a normative economic- policy principle if 1) it is not viewed narrowly as only a static concept; 2) it is linked to the societal objectives within the economy being studied; and 3) the interplay of different societal levels is taken into account.

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