Germany's Wealth Gets More Unequally Distributed (But Still Better Than in US)

choi

Germany's unbalanced economy | Getting Uneven; The corporate success of the Mittelstand comes at a cost: widening inequality. Economist, Aug 3. 2019.
https://www.economist.com/financ ... ess-comes-at-a-cost

Quotation after the first 2 paragraphs:

"Around the turn of the millennium Germany's export took off, as rapidly growing emerging economies started to buy its high-value-added manufacturing goods in bulk. That , together with stingier welfare benefits and government policies encouraging wage restraint, helped push up profits.

"Germany is one of the most unequal of the 35 countries in the OECD. The top tenth of households own 60% of net wealth [the bar chart showed top 1%]. The median household has net wealth of €61,000 ($68,000), slightly more than the median for Poland, but less than the median for Greece and more than a third below the median for the euro area. The comparison may be unduly harsh, since it excludes pension wealth. which is likely large in Germany. But it reflects the fact that poorer Germans are less likely to own houses or shares.

"Germany's corporate wealth tends to be kept in the family. The country has relatively few listed firms: 60$ of corporate assets belong to privately owned firms. Many are family-run. Even among the publicly listed ones two-thirds are family controlled [through shares, whether these are voting shares or ordinary shares, this article does not say] * * * Higher profits, therefore, means higher capital incomes for the already rich [hence more unequal]. * * * German tycoons are also thrifter than their peers elsewhere. Though Germany's authorities tend to blame an ageing society for its high savings rate, the true culprits appeal to be the moguls of the Mittelstand [no explanation is given, except saying they are thrifter].

Note:
(a) In print the article carries a graphic with three panels, which can be found through search of images.google.com with (economist mittelstand).
(b) "stingier welfare benefits"

Gerhard Schröder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schröder
(1944- ; party: Social Democratic Party (SPD); chancellor 1998-2005 (succeeded by Angela Merkel of opposing party);

quote: "During Schröder's time in office, economic growth slowed to only 0.2% in 2002 and Gross Domestic Product shrank in 2003, while German unemployment was over the 10% mark. Most voters soon associated Schröder with the Agenda 2010 reform program, which included cuts in the social welfare system (national health insurance, unemployment payments, pensions), lower taxes, and reformed regulations on employment and payment." (citation omitted).

The Economist has said time and again that Agenda 2010 cost him the re-election, but served Germany well.



* Recall German nouns have the first letter capitalized.