Economic Miracles and Their Afterlives

In this special issue, contributors examine the “economic miracle,” a concept initially associated with the seemingly miraculous recoveries of the German and Japanese economies following the devastation of World War II. The authors observe the ways this concept has increasingly become a fixture in the landscape of economic thinking and policymaking, particularly in the global South, where the longing for a miraculous economic transformation has served as justification for authoritarian rule and as an argument for the necessity of a repressive regime and increasing inequality. Articles in this issue focus on the connection between miracles and mirages, as well as the human and environmental cost of the miracle and its afterlife.

Contributors: Abou B. Bamba, Franco Barchiesi, Jacob Blanc, Hannah Borenstein, Ellis Garey, James N. Green, Rebecca E. Karl, Hasan H. Karrar, Ravinder Kaur, Johanna Gautier Morin, Andre Pagliarini, Aimée Plukker, Quinn Slobodian, Melissa Teixeira, Christy Thornton, Paula Vedoveli, Barbara Weinstein