Eichengreen on Hans-Werner Sinn and the Bazaar Economy (amv)

Here you can find Barry Eichengreen's comments on the German economy, on German economists (esp. Hans-Werner Sinn and his 'bazaar economy') and on the fact that ...

"[m]any Germans have a visceral distaste for service sector jobs. Providing a service to someone else makes one feel like the customer’s inferior, in contrast to a solid and respectable job in manufacturing. Because of the country’s recent economic history, prosperity continues to be archaically associated with manufacturing. Indeed, one worries that Germany’s recent success in boosting exports of manufactures may only cause further delay in recognizing that it will need a very different specialization – and therefore a very different set of supporting institutions – to survive in the 21st century world."

So true, so true.