German Economic Growth

[myhame]

How come Germany is an economy similar to Britain and other western nations, but it did not suffer the same economic consequences of the two once powerful nations

[General Goose]

I'm not an expert on the German economy, and they've still seen some problems, but even just by looking at their unemployment rates (5.9%), it's clear they've done something right. I think it's for a variety of reasons. There are quite a few differences between the economies of the UK and Germany:

• Germany is the most industrialised of the "big four" western European economies; the UK, France and Italy (and America too) have 19-25% of their economies devoted to industry and manufacturing; for the Germans, it's around 30%. Also unlike them, they're a net exporter. Now, industry isn't immune to the effects of recession (and it's particularly vulnerable to factors like outsourcing), but the recession did impact service industries like banking and property particularly hard.
• Their debt as a percentage of GDP is pretty low by modern European standards (78.8%); lower than France, the US, and Italy, for example, and only slightly higher than the UK. A lower debt is a pretty good thing to have in a recession; lower interest payments, the threat of default or too burdensome a debt is further away, more investor and creditor confidence, more leeway to stimulate the economy, yadda yadda yadda.

I'm definitely missing out on a few bigger things, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head.