Does the German Economics Ministry really not understand any of this? My guess is that it doesn’t — that Germany really does see itself as a role model, believes that all would be well if everyone behaved the same, and doesn’t see the notion of a world in which everyone runs big trade surpluses as being problematic in the least.
The whole world will never run big surpluses. No need to worry about it; it's mathematically impossible. Some nations successfully compete on high quality, like Germany. Others compete on price. Those who can't compete, accumulate deficits. I think that monetary manipulations may have an impact, but it would be limited. There are more important factors, like political climate, traditions, culture, knowledge, skills, ethics. May be hard to put them into equations. IMHO, that German ministry may have a point. |
