Germany, with its fast-aging population, urgently needs about one million immigrants annually, or, on a net basis, almost half a million. Otherwise, the workforce will

Germany’s policy of high energy prices has significantly contributed to the reduction of CO2 emissions and the improvement of the environment. Even so, it is still a long

Since reunification in 1990 Germany’s real GDP has grown at a surprisingly steady annual rate of almost 1.3%. In the beginning it was mostly the

On December 12, the ECB had lowered its three policy rates by 25 basis points each – the most important one, the so-called deposit facility

For quite some time I have been annoyed by the never-ending complaints of politicians and lobbyists that Western European countries were lacking international competitiveness, and

Everything has already been said about the debt brake – but not by everybody, as the Bavarian poet Karl Valentin might have said. Here is

The central message of the IMF’s new  World Economic Outlook is that the world’s real GDP will continue to grow in coming years, if not as briskly

Last week the International Energy Agency (IEA) has published its annual report (World Energy Outlook 2024), the most important source of data for those who

The disruptions of natural gas imports from Russia, as a retaliation for Western sanctions after the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, have brought home the point

For several months now, European and American inflation rates have come in lower than expected by most market participants while China’s price levels continue to

There are two important and stable global trends which will determine the structure of our economies. Decision makers have to take them into account: 1)