Germany, once the home of the Wirtschaftswunder (miracle economy), has had the slowest or second-slowest economy in the European Union for six years running—unemployment often tops 10 percent, while heavy government spending has pushed the budget deficit close to the limits for members of the eurozone. Despite the debilitating effects of unification more than a decade ago, the sluggish economy is often blamed on the Germans themselves: they are a people opposed to economic risk, so the thinking goes, too firmly attached to generous government social programs and protective labor laws. But an extensive on-line survey gives the lie to this stereotype, thus suggesting that policy makers have room to embark on bold reform measures that could unleash the hidden economic energy of the German people.
The German people could be more ready than their politicians for economic reforms that might solve some of the country’s problems
The on-line Perspektive-Deutschland survey,1 which was commissioned by McKinsey, T-Online (an Internet service provider), and the Stern publishing group, attracted responses from 170,000 Germans, making it Europe’s largest in-depth on-line survey. Some of the results were expected—for instance, the large gap in the quality of life between the former East and...