The Federal Republic of Germany and the United States: Changing Political, Social, and Economic Relations by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781000229523
Google: 7gWiDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 49786236
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1986-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Calling for more unity and cooperation in economic policy is undoubtedly an important prerequisite for overcoming the world’s economic problems. This, however, cannot and should not absolve each individual country of the responsibility for above all putting its own house in order through action on a national scale. The world economy is a phenomenon made up of a multitude of national economies. Decisions to have specific countries assume the role of locomotive to pull others — as was given West Germany by the 1978 world economic summit meeting in Bonn — are completely out of place in the present economic situation.12

What is appropriate at the moment is for governments to construct and implement their national measures to achieve international effectiveness. In that respect, the United States has a significant leadership role to play in the future development of the world economy. There is nothing at all to criticize about the U.S.’s forceful and successful campaign against domestic inflation. What is open to criticism, however, is the one-sided monetaristic approach which has been taken for some time and the lack of consideration given its international repercussions, especially the effect it has on interest rate development and exchange rates elsewhere. The U.S. still appears to follow the habit of grossly underestimating the influences of the rest of the world on U.S. prosperity.13

5. The United States is the world’s largest trading nation. Though far behind the U.S., West Germany is nevertheless ahead of Japan. These three countries together account for almost one-third of the total export volume in world trade.14 The significance of world trade to the Federal Republic, however, is far greater than for either the U.S. or Japan. The export of goods and services in West Germany amounts to almost 30 percent of its gross domestic product; the export ratios for the U.S. and Japan are much lower, amounting to about 10 and 14 percent respectively.15 Apart from manufactured goods, West Germany is even exporting slightly more goods than the U.S. (in 1982: $156 billion vs. $152 billion).16 West Germany is strongly integrated in the international exchange of goods and services.

This exceptionally strong interrelationship with the world economy also documents the country’s exceptional sensitivity to extraneous economic influences. West Germany’s per capita export figure is currently almost DM 5,700, compared with the U.S.’s DM 1,750 and Japan’s DM 2,019.17 None of the other major industrialized countries has such a high per capita export figure. In addition, it has been above all in important industrial sectors, and in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in particular, that the external influences on domestic development have been most telling. The degree of dependence on exports is particularly high in the iron and steel producing industry, through which approximately 77 percent of all persons gainfully employed in this sector are either directly or indirectly dependent on exports (industrial average: 47 percent).18 This testifies to the enormous importance of the machine building and tool making industries which export up to three-quarters of production, thus accounting for about half of total world exports.

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