Month after month, West Germany's supercharged economy kept pumping out its ever-growing stream of exports. One result was inflation at home; another, angry grumbling abroad from trading partners whose currencies piled higher and higher in West German bank vaults. A remedy was apparent: an increase in the value of the West German Deutsche Mark to make German goods more expensive abroad (discouraging exports) and foreign goods cheaper for German importers (encouraging imports).
But to a man, the Germans squelched rumors of revaluation. "No valid case for it," intoned the official Bundesbank. "Too late," agreed Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard. Then last week, having...