Germany – Dr Oliver Hartwich

Debt-financed infrastructure spending won’t solve Germany’s problems

It must indeed be tempting to binge on infrastructure spending as Berlin can now borrow for 30 years at a negative interest rate of 0.11 percent. But should the Germans do so? [...]

The next Euro crisis could be made in Germany

At the beginning of the century, The Economist famously called Germany the “sick man of Europe”. The way things are going, we are likely to read similar headlines again soon. [...]

The weird world of negative interest rates

Unless you have a mortgage or you are the Minister of Finance, it is a world you would not want to inhabit. But for millions of Europeans, that may soon be reality. We can only hope that even after the RBNZ’s next cut, New Zealanders will not contemplate going into the topsy-turvy world the Germans are about to enter. [...]

From localism towards localism: A personal journey of policy discovery

Nothing in my work in Germany, Britain, Australia and now New Zealand has given me reason to doubt my basic beliefs: incentives matter; councils can work effectively when given the right incentives; and decision-making removed from the people it concerns creates problems. [...]

A crisis brewing in German politics

While the German and European economies are slowing, while Brexit remains unresolved, and while challenges aplenty wait for the EU, Berlin will be absorbed by domestic issues. [...]

Equality of esteem in tertiary education

Germany and Switzerland have long been famous for exporting cars, machinery and chemicals to all parts of the world. They are now becoming well-known as exporters of their dual education model. [...]

Europe’s old-fashioned new industrial policy

If success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm, then German economics minister Peter Altmaier is on a winning streak. [...]

The race to succeed Merkel

The way it is going, Germany’s chancellor in early 2019 would no longer be called Merkel but Merz. That may sound similar. They even belong to the same party. But it would be a markedly different government. [...]

Merkel’s method has run its course

German leader Angela Merkel rose from obscurity with no clear ideological platform thanks to a skill at jumping on and off bandwagons, but her run of luck is over. [...]

Our islands of stability

New Zealand appears to be one of the few Western-style democracies still showing any signs of political stability. [...]