Recently, Hans-Werner Sinn, head of Ifo, a Munich-based economic research institute, pointed out that Germany is battling the consequences of five economic shocks: globalisation; the European Union and its enlargement; the introduction of the euro; the opening up of central and eastern Europe; and German re-unification. Each one of these big events has been good for the world as a whole, but has posed particular problems for Germany. It is perhaps remarkable that the country has weathered so many unanticipated blows so well, a tribute to the economy's resilience[1].

This week's (August 20-26) cover in The Economist: Germany's Surprising Economy

Here is just one bit (via Tyler): Thanks to the intense pressure that they have been under in the past few years, Germany's big companies have restructured and cut their bloated cost base. This process has for once been helped by the trade unions, which had been a stubborn obstacle to change. German workers have belatedly recognised that change has become essential, which is why they have been ready over the past year or so to accept such innovations as more decentralised pay bargaining, longer hours and even wage cuts. Thanks in part to this new flexibility, unit labour costs, a benchmark of competitiveness, have fallen sharply relative to other countries. In the past five years, Germany, long the most costly place in Europe in which to do business, has won a new competitive edge over France, Italy, the Netherlands and even Britain. That is a big reason why, last year, it regained its position as the world's biggest exporter.

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[1] Ready to motor?, The Economist