More government debt for more wealth

At this point last week, with a view to the logic of monetary union, I advocated relying on more government debt in Germany as long as we are below the average of the other euro countries. Which leads to the question of what the state in Germany should incur more debt for.

The answer should be oriented towards the major challenges we face: increasing growth potential against a backdrop of a shrinking labor force, better provisioning for an aging society and a broader distribution of wealth should be core objectives of a debt-oriented policy. Under no circumstances should further consumption be financed on credit.

In a European comparison, German private households are poorer, which is mainly due to the fact that the bottom half has little or no wealth. Pension entitlements in Germany are also not particularly high compared to other European countries.