Fresh from the press: German service economy lags in international comparison

Without changing the new theme of this blog, I want to point out to a new report from the German Institute for Economic Research. According to this report on German exports (abstract in German), the German service sector is lagging in international comparison. Although Germany is still strong in the export of goods, in particular with the automobile and heavy industry, its service share of all exports of 13% in 2005 falls way behind that of other developed countries. According to the institute, this is in particular significant since the economic weight is shifting from the industrial to the service sector. 

I won’t say “I told you so”, but will point instead to this post. ;-) 

As others before, however, the institute sees innovation in R&D and in human capital as the solution to this problem. It still amazes me that these “think tanks” don’t make the connection with the poor service mindset in Germany as one of the key causes of this problem.