New Economic System
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The New Economic System was a system of controlling the East German economy established by the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED) of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1963. Its purpose was to replace the system of Five Year Plans which had been used to run the GDR's economy from 1951 onwards. The System was introduced by Walter Ulbricht in order to give centralised control to the economy to be run in as efficient a manner as possible.
Its main aims were to reduce the wastage of raw materials, increase the level of mechanisation used in production methods and, most significantly, to create a system in which quality rather than quantity was foremost. It was also used to rebuild the economy following the devastating Republikflucht which had devastated the GDR's economy prior to the building of the Berlin Wall on 13th August 1961.
The System was largely unsuccessful and was replaced by the Economic System of Socialism which concentrated on building up the GDR's hi-tech industries.
