IBUS 3001 Germany’s Economy: A Prosperity Hallucination

Germany’s Economy: “A Prosperity Hallucination”
Student’s Name
Institution
Germany’s Economy: “A Prosperity Hallucination”
In an interview with the Economist, the leader of Free Democrats (FDP), one of the political parties in Germany, described the country’s economy as “a prosperity hallucination”. This phrase by Christian Lindner describes the culture of Germans where prosperity is not compatible with their values. One of the Hofstede’s dimensions of culture is uncertainty avoidance. This is the state of being worried or uneasy in regards to future happenings describe well the uncertainty avoidance by Hofstede. In this sense, Germany could be described as an uncertainty avoidant society given that its members are not as daring as in other societies. Members of an uncertainty avoidant society tend to be better at implementing rather that at innovating. The words of Lindner in the interview with the Economist show that in Germany, entrepreneurship is undervalued. It is important to recognize the significance of innovation in entrepreneurship. Innovation can be said to be a backbone of entrepreneurship. As mentioned, members of an uncertainty avoidant society score low on innovation despite being better implementers. It is for this reason that Lindner asserts that more daring societies are better than Germany because of undervaluing entrepreneurship. According to the FDP leader, Germany has the potential to be world leaders, but the members of the society have to “want it.” However, as described in the art...