Surplus Germany.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Jacoby, Wade
- Source
- German Politics. Sep2020, Vol. 29 Issue 3, p498-521. 24p.
- Subject
- *SURPLUS (Economics)
*PUBLIC investments
*POLITICAL elites
GERMANY-United States relations
- Language
- ISSN
- 0964-4008
This article privileges an institutional explanation rooted in the financial sector for the persistent German trade surpluses of the past 15 years. Specifically, it explains the disruptive consequences of a long-running stagnation in domestic investment in combination with rising German savings, particularly from corporate and government actors. It links these outcomes primarily to policy changes in the early and mid-2000s. The article also offers a constructivist explanation of how German elites have understood (and often misunderstood) the trade surplus. I characterise German elites as using a formula of 'normalise and apologise' to explain away worries about the surplus. The result is what one might call a 'political narrative of unbalanced growth.' The argument concludes with implications for the tense German-American economic relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]