BERLIN – And ‘total war among German economists on a theme re-emerged with the Great Crisis, repurposed to pounding rhythms from Nobel laureates Krugman and Stiglitz but also the star of the emerging economists, Piketty: the increase in inequality in the West. The moral aspect, the point is that the gulf between rich and poor is bad for growth, many scholars now argue – and not just Keynesian orientation. But the controversy has exploded in the country of Angela Merkel since anyone dared to suggest that this approach is suitable also for Europe’s largest economy. The thesis of a well-known economist, but much discussed in Germany, Marcel Fratzscher, is breaking the academic world. Fratzscher is one of the very few economists ordoliberals the country of Angela Merkel and insists for years that Germany is too few investments and It has a dramatic problem of domestic demand sacrifices on the altar of the penalty area. But in the last book, The equity battle , the data cites scholar OECD to show that the German economy has lost six points of growth due to growing differences between rich and poor. All hell broke loose. Michael Huether, head of the authoritative institute IW Cologne research, used a bold metaphor to offend him. Sometimes you have to put on his rubber boots and trampling the mud of the data to understand, he said. And someone said, prefers to leave the boots in the closet to jump on “superficial thesis” on inequality. And if Fratzscher cites in support OECD figures showing that between 1990 and 2010 the German GDP could grow by six per cent more, Huether one questions the methodology. It argues the opposite: in Germany inequalities put the turbo to growth. With the Iw they have sided not only colleagues including Andreas Peichl, ZEW; even the “economic wise men” of Angela Merkel called on to take the study OECD “with pliers.”
The IW he has therefore developed a counter-study that challenges the thesis Fratzscher (and OECD). First, it is wrong to think that little countries like Norway unfair or very unfair as the United States may suffer the same effects when inequalities are growing. And the OECD does not take into account either, says Huether, the differences in social mobility in the education system or the policy of the various countries.
Even the Iw comes to the conclusion that the harm the inequalities’ economy, but only if the difference between rich and poor is already great, that is, if the Gini coefficient that the measure is in excess of 0.35. Germany is below. We must also distinguish between industrialized countries and developing. Only in countries with incomes below $ 9,000 a year, the guilt is bad for growth. According to the Iw inequalities they have thus far given 2.3 points to the German GDP, between 1990 and 2010. The reverse of the thesis Fratzscher and OECD.
Meanwhile, however, the inequalities they grow, and are larger than in other European countries. He supports the Bundesbank in a study that shows that ten percent richer now owns 59.8 percent of the wealth; fifteen years ago it was still 45.1 per cent. The secret of “Scrooge”, according to the expert Tobias Schmidt of the German central bank, is investing in bricks and mortar, in these years of low interest rates.
“There is a strong link – he explained the economist – including the possession of property and wealth, “although” the increase in the price of the houses is of benefit mainly of the wealthy. ” Half of those who have real estate properties have seen their value grow by about 33 thousand euro, on average. Those who live in rented accommodation has been enriched just a thousand euro, over the years under review (2010-14). And the poorest 50 percent, calculating men of Jens Weidmann, has just 2.5 percent of the national wealth.
Also between East and West begins to open up a gap, after two decades and means of convergence between the two Germanys. But the data, in this case, those of the Ebert Foundation released these days are a bit ‘old, return a trend observed at the beginning of the Great Depression, between 2009 and 2012, when the difference in GDP per capita between the western regions and oriental rose to 26.6 percent. Other than the “blossoming landscapes” of Helmut Kohl.
- Topics:
- Germany
- inequalities
- OECD
- riches
- poverty
- Starring:
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