Germany, the EU's engine, is stalling — a location analysis in the mirror of the IMD competitiveness ranking, from an ordoliberal perspective. Occasion: the symposium "For Lars P. Feld at 60" (IWP, University of Lucerne).
Four pillars: economic performance · government efficiency · business efficiency · infrastructure — 70 economies.
A location ranking does not measure effort, but relative conditions — how expensive and friction-free a unit is made here versus abroad. Read through the ordoliberal lens (Freiburg School, Eucken/Feld): not subsidies decide, but the regulatory framework — energy, taxes, bureaucracy, competition.
Germany is the industrial core and trading hub — pulling force and risk at once.
An engine in a network means: Germany's demand and supply chains are inputs for its neighbours. If the largest block drops out, pulling force is missing — not because the others are weak, but because a quarter of the machine stalls. Image: the big locomotive loses power; the carriages don't become bad.
Experts skeptical that a temporary subsidy fixes the structure for good.
🧭 A structural finding — and precisely therefore structurally solvable.
⭐ Money alone builds no bridge if the permit takes years.
Stay informed.
HDH Macro Intelligence – next week.