If the German Federal Statistical Office hadn’t officially announced it last Friday, you wouldn’t have believed it. In Germany, the part of collective wage agreements that leads to a permanent collective wage increase actually amounted to only 2.4 per cent last year. …
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. …
The debate on European fiscal rules and specifically the German debt brake, which has been fueled by the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling of 15 November, is being conducted under legal, political and economic aspects. In our view, the latter must take center stage. …
The data on price trends in Europe are more than encouraging. The inflation rate at consumer level in the European Monetary Union (EMU) was only 2.9 percent in October. According to Eurostat, producer prices were down 12.4 percent in September compared to September of last year. …
