When, in April, Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, sharply criticised the policies of the European Central Bank, he was expressing a distinctive macroeconomic approach which shapes the views of German economists and policymakers alike. It is based on the strong conviction that problems of aggregate demand are of secondary importance as long as prices are sufficiently flexible. This explains the German insistence on structural reform as the solution to almost all economic problems and the quasi-religious fixation on the “black zero”, the balanced fiscal budget with no red ink.
当德国财长沃尔夫冈•朔伊布勒(Wolfgang Schäuble)在今年4月激烈批评欧洲央行(ECB)的政策的时候,他在表述一种影响着德国manbetx20客户端下载 学家和政策制定者的独特宏观manbetx20客户端下载 策略。这种策略基于一种坚定的信念:只要价格足够灵活,总需求的问题是次要的。这解释了德国为何坚持将结构性改革视为几乎所有manbetx20客户端下载 问题的解决方法,以及为何德国对“黑零”——没有赤字的平衡的财政预算——有一种近乎宗教式的执着。