Heiner Flassbeck

Economist Heiner Flassbeck argues Germany cannot achieve economic recovery without a thriving retail sector, pointing to the country's historical dependence on foreign trade. His analysis, published with charts on relevante-oekonomik.com under the title 'German misery in two pictures', links weak domestic consumption to Germany's broader economic malaise, suggesting depressed consumer spending is both symptom and cause of the downturn.