Economics and politics - comment and analysis

Downturn in the economy and a simultaneous downturn in economic analysis

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is not an economic expert. Nobody expects him to be. However, the head of government of the world’s fourth largest industrialised nation should have advisors to protect him from disqualifying himself in economic issues. He obviously does not have any such advisors. …

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Germany is in recession – and that is extremely dangerous!

In the past, there were still recessions in the economy. These were phases of shrinking gross domestic product (GDP) that lasted two, three quarters or a whole year. Rising unemployment and shrinking incomes were practically always the result. And monetary policy always had to lower interest rates and the state had to intervene by increasing its own (debt-financed) spending if it wanted to prevent worse, …

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Das deutsche Dienstleistungswunder

Das Statistische Bundesamt hat bereits am 15. Januar die ersten Ergebnisse seiner Berechnung des Bruttoinlandsprodukts (BIP) für das Jahr 2019 vorgestellt. Danach ist die deutsche Wirtschaft im vergangenen Jahr um 0,6 Prozent gewachsen. In der vergangenen Woche (am 14. Februar) wurden zudem die Ergebnisse der Berechnung für das vierte Quartal 2019 vorgelegt. …

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