A Quiet Revolution in German Economics
At the meeting of finance ministers of the euro-zone in Luxembourg on Oct. 4, 2021, one prominent regular attendee was missing. Olaf Scholz, Germany’s finance minister and vice chancellor since 2018, was otherwise occupied in Berlin. Eight days earlier, his Social Democratic Party (SPD) had won national elections under his leadership, making him the most likely person to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor, pending coalition negotiations.
One might think that other eurozone countries would be filled with anxiety as they tracked Germany’s election and its aftermath, given the country’s out-sized weight in determining the European Union’s common economic and financial policies. But the reality is that Europe was hardly worried at all—and even less so now that Scholz has taken power as Germany’s new leader. That’s because the culture of German economics has already changed significantly in recent years. And that’s not least because of Scholz’s own influence.
A new generation of economists has recently emerged
