News Archive

The Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022 marked not only a turning point (Zeitenwende) for German security policy but also for German foreign economic policy. From a European standpoint, the war served as a painful reminder of how economic dependencies can be used as political leverage, bringing the geopolitical dimension of trade relations and economic interdependencies into public focus. In particular, economic ties with the People’s Republic of China are increasingly being scrutinized.

A joint report by a group of economists from France, Germany, and Italy criticizes the EU's innovation policy and the direction of research and development spending in Europe and calls for changes. The authors argue that the EU is losing the race to innovate, ceding economic prosperity as well as regulatory and geopolitical power. EU research investment is concentrated in the medical technology sector, especially the automotive industry, while Europe is falling behind in growing high-tech sectors such as the digital economy. The continent is caught in a mid-tech trap.

Voters of right-wing populist parties are increasingly in favor of dismantling the welfare state in order to be able to compete with other countries. This is according to a survey of 12,000 voters in Germany, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The right-wing populist spectrum sees the welfare state as a form of redistribution towards immigrants. Left-wing populist voters, meanwhile, are most strongly opposed to dismantling the welfare state. The views of voters of non-populist parties lie between those of the two populist groups.

Inequality in the labor market between men and women in Germany is at its greatest when there are children involved, finds an international research group that has examined the development of inequality in 17 countries in Europe and North America over the past 50 years. Among 30-year-olds, mothers earn on average 70 to 80 percent less than fathers. For childless people of the same age, the difference is much smaller and has fallen to less than 5 percent. 

The outbreak of an unprecedented global health crisis about four years ago put the very foundations of our communities, economies and politics to the test. Policymakers had to learn and react fast to limit human and economic costs at the same time. This article highlights the importance of existing markets, technological features such as payments systems and economic decisions at the transactional level in combating the spread of a contagious disease while stabilizing aggregate economic activity.