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How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

conradbastable.com

21–30 of 348 posts

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#21
post #3

I wonder how that plot would look like if they separated individual US states and also considered trade between them. I'd guess the big three (California, Texas, New York) would dominate quite a bit there as well.

New York, big three? Florida passed New York in population in 2014: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-florid... . Census figures released Tuesday show Florida passed New York as the nation's third largest state with an estimated population of 19.9 million. New York, now fourth, has 19.7 million.

By economy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#22

Very informative. Does this imply that Brexit is the rational choice for the UK?

Maybe there's a simpler explanation, in Germany businesses are run quite conservatively in comparison. Nice for stability but probably bad for innovation. By the way, Germany is one of the top 5 exporting countries since decades, so this has little to do with the Euro: https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/Country/WLD/Yea... https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/Country/WLD/Yea...

In part, it has to do with the fact that many items made in Germany are of high quality. Most goods that are sold in U.S. for instance, are made in China. Often times these goods simply fall apart (dishwashers, washing machines), are defective, or have toxic odors (like full-color books). Not so for things made in the U.S. or Europe, and it just so happens that there are a great many things that Germany makes now, where they are the only high-quality source.

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#23
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New York, big three? Florida passed New York in population in 2014: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-florid... . Census figures released Tuesday show Florida passed New York as the nation's third largest state with an estimated population of 19.9 million. New York, now fourth, has 19.7 million.

By economy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

Fair enough.

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#25
post #9

Related : cars selled by european companies will have to average 95gCO2e/km. But this limit is raised for heavy cars, which Germany sell a lot more than others. France's environment minister is angry. The legislation has been tailored for the EU's biggest industry.

> this limit is raised for heavy cars

Yeah, what's that all about? Surely the entire point is to incentivise people to _not_ buy heavy cars, since the lowest emission models (aside from electric cars) are smaller?

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#26
post #5

Interesting choice to use 1993 as the start for the comparison of Germany's trade surplus: https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/balance-of-trade

> Interesting choice to use 1993 as the start for the comparison of Germany's trade surplus: https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/balance-of-trade

Because before 1993, you're not comparing apples to apples: "Germany" was two separate countries, and reunification affected the economics on both sides of the border.

It's true that the recession makes this a particularly favorable starting point for Germany, but it'd be misleading to compare Germany's economy today to the economy of West Germany of the 1980s (as many comparisons do) and ignore that half of modern-day Germany was the DDR at that point.

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#27
post #9

Related : cars selled by european companies will have to average 95gCO2e/km. But this limit is raised for heavy cars, which Germany sell a lot more than others. France's environment minister is angry. The legislation has been tailored for the EU's biggest industry.

> this limit is raised for heavy cars Yeah, what's that all about? Surely the entire point is to incentivise people to _not_ buy heavy cars, since the lowest emission models (aside from electric cars) are smaller?

Except that the EU is an union of unequal countries, so if Germany (which is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful country in EU) want to keep an industrial edge via a special case in law, they're going to get it.

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#28

It was a fancy read until > an efficient & strong military Now I doubt everything.

Haha, but look at the source and remember that the goal for Germany is to reach the Nato 2% funding by 2030 (at least according to FTs recent interview with Angela Merkel).

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#29
post #17

„ France and the UK were opposed to German reunification, and attempted to influence the Soviet Union to stop it.[8] However, in late 1989 France extracted German commitment to the Monetary Union in return for support for German reunification.[9]“ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_euro

Yeah, France wanted to use the Euro currency to reign in the German economy. Funny how that ended up backfiring decades later with Germany running the show.

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, if it is rational to loose ones status as Europe‘s financial hub which was one of the key drivers in the past for the high pound exchange value.

There are winners and losers to having a strong currency. It isn't inherently a bad thing to make the currency less valuable.

What are the winners going to be? What industries does Britain Excel at besides finance? I am asking sincerely.
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