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Ersatz is a German word literally meaning substitute or replacement. Although ersatz is used only as an adjective in English, Ersatz can function in German either as a noun on its own, or as an adjective in compound nouns such as Ersatzteile (spare parts) or Ersatzspieler (substitute player). While the English term often implies that the substitution is of unsatisfactory or inferior quality, this connotation does not necessarily exist in the German context.
Historical context
The term ersatz probably gained international attention during World War I, when allied fleets cut off all sea transports to Germany, forcing Germany to develop substitues for products like chemical compounds and provisions. Ersatz products developed during this time included: synthetic rubber (buna produced from oil), benzene for heating oil (coal gas), tea composed of ground raspberry leaves or catnip, and coffee, using roasted beans, which were not coffee beans. Though a similar situation arose in Germany during World War II, this connotation with the term ersatz has sunk into oblivion in present Germany.
Another example of the usage of the word Ersatz in Germany is the German naval construction programs of the beginning of the 20th century, which would use the phrasing "Ersatz (shipname)" to indicate that a new ship was a replacement for an aging or lost previous ship, generally by a new, larger or more capable vessel. Because German practice was not to reveal the name of a new ship until its launch, this meant that the vessel was known by its "Ersatz (shipname)" throughout its construction. At the end of World War I a class of incomplete battlecruisers was known simply as the Ersatz Yorck class, since the first ship was considered to be a replacement for the lost armored cruiser SMS Yorck.
Ersatz capitalism
Relating to the scholarly work of Kunio Yoshihara, ersatz capitalism refers to the early rising economies of East Asian and their dynamic and techonology intensive developments. Yoshihara's definition classifies Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese nations' capitalist drives as what might be called "false capitalism." This refers to such government and business actors' abilities to utilize a nation's comparative advantages and artificially motivate an economy towards higher end economic activities, specifically similar to those of developed Western nations, including areas such as capital investments and technology intensive production.
"Ersatz"