One of the issues that will figure prominently in the upcoming German parliamentary election is whether to increase taxes on wealth. For the most part, Germany currently taxes wealth by means of an inheritance…
Last year, it was quite fashionable to compare the ECB’s monetary policy to the Mephistophelean discovery of endlessly reproducible paper money in Faust. But current public opinion in the eurozone would seem to…
My final column written as ZEW's President before resiging from office has to do with Europe. Not only to pay tribute to the "E" in ZEW, but primarily because I am worried about Europe. We should not let things…
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in it." The efforts on the part of some governments in the eurozone to set up a functional European banking union by the beginning of 2013 might certainly remind us…
Since the middle of the last decade the situation on the German labour market has made a significant change for the better. The number of people in employment increased by 2.7 million between 2005 and 2012.…
As the European debt crisis grinds on, some countries, especially Italy and Spain, have complained that despite having initiated reforms they must pay "unreasonably" high interest rates to finance their…
From the mid-aughts till today, the German labour market has seen a marked rise in the number of employees. This positive trend – interrupted only by the downturn in 2009, which was mild given the gravity of…
The extent to which the Greek electorate was buoyed by the country's advance to the quarterfinals of the 2012 European football championship is unclear. In any event, the outcome of the elections on June 17 has…
Like a deus ex machina, growth has mutated into the great hope of 2012. Inspired by the election promises of the new French president, increasing support is being garnered by voices of opposition to German-led…
According to a famous German proverb, "A horrible end is better than horror without end". However, with regard to the insolvency of Schlecker, Europe's largest drugstore chain, this proverb is misleading, for…