Finanzsystem und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung: Tendenzen in den USA und in Deutschland aus makroökonomischer Perspektive

This study analyses the longer term implications of 'financialisation' in the US and in Germany from a macroeconomic perspective. In the process of 'financialisation' the importance of the financial sector of an economy increases relative to that of the non-financial sector. While discussing both opportunities and risks involved with 'financialisation', particular emphasis is on the potential causes and implications of a phenomenon repeatedly observed since the early 1980s: whereas physical investment activity was relatively weak over extended periods of time, profits in the business sector have developed very favourably throughout the period. In the US, economic growth is increasingly driven by (wealth-based and debt-financed) private consumption, while in Germany growth and profits depend increasingly on exports. We examine the implications of these different growth patterns in light of the current turbulences in national and international financial systems.