Hans-Werner Sinn & Bernd Raffelhüschen über grüne Klimapolitik & ökonomische Vernunft.

0:00:00 Intro and pre-recorded segment 0:00:21 What were the best and worst economic policy decisions of the last 20 years? 0:02:17 Is Swiss economic policy better than German economic policy? 0:03:22 What did you want to be when you grew up? 0:06:19 Why is it so difficult for politicians to tell citizens uncomfortable truths? 0:08:08 What will happen to Germany's debt now? 0:10:45 Does every nation get the government it deserves? Website: https://www.iwp.swiss/ LinkedIn:   / iwp-swiss   #EconomicPolicy #Green #Reforms #DeinIndustrialization #Switzerland #Germany #Politics #LifePath #HansWernerSinn #Raffelhüschen #economic #reason Subtitles Okay, so you'd agree with the statement that every nation gets the government it deserves? Yes, in principle, that's true. In principle, you elect your government, and in that sense, you deserve it. Perfect, that's for you. That's for you. And can we look at them all now? You can look at them all and sort them a bit. The ones you like best. Well, first we need to put on our glasses, otherwise nothing will work. Otherwise, nothing will work. We can open them up a little. A little laughter is allowed. Take it easy, be spontaneous. It's a mix of economics and humor, after all. Yes, let's just get started. I need to see what question I'm asking. Let's take the economic policy decisions of recent years. There are all sorts of decisions. Let's examine the range. The worst and the best. Or is the range not particularly large? What was the decisive decision? Yes, the worst was this ideological environmental policy. Practically speaking, reducing all fossil fuel consumption to zero in just 20 years. That means, practically speaking, a policy of forced deindustrialization, with all sorts of fairy tales. It's true that the sun doesn't send a bill, but it's completely misleading to think that it will become cheaper. Instead, we have the most expensive electricity costs on the planet. Okay, that's the worst. It's currently decimating German industry, and quite massively at that. The best. Oh dear, oh dear. What, in your opinion, is the best? In Germany? Yes. The best decision. Well, I can't find one in Germany. Does Swiss economic policy do better than German policy? Or is Switzerland simply making the same political mistakes ten years later? On the contrary. Actually, Switzerland has always handled direct democracy very rationally. In all the referendums I've followed over the past years and decades, these populist, purely populist left-wing/green elements ultimately didn't get their way. So, it was always very rational. The extension of vacation time was rejected, for example. And then came the shock for me with the 13th AHV (Swiss old-age and survivors' insurance) payment. That was the first time that pure populists in Switzerland essentially abused direct democracy. But that's also the only instance of capitulation you can see. Otherwise, I think Switzerland—again, we in Switzerland always talk about, or at least the Germans do, about the Alps and this and that. It's a highly industrialized region. Yes, yes. More industrialized than we are in Germany on average. What else did I have? What did you actually want to be when you were younger? A politician? A scientist? A taxi driver? What did you want to be when you grew up? What was it like when you were 16 or 17? What was your dream? Where did you see yourself someday? I was most interested in the science programs at school—physics, biology, and things like that. That's where I saw myself, in a way. In the end, it was biology. I really wanted to do genetic research because we had a fantastic biology teacher who had just come from university. The basic knowledge had already been there, half a century ago. But I didn't know what you could do with it. I couldn't imagine a sector in medicine emerging that would use these techniques for the benefit of humanity. I thought you had to become a biology teacher. I didn't want that. And then I became an economics teacher. And why did you study economics? Well, out of political interest. Because I thought it had something to do with money, and I needed money. I came from a poor background. I can't afford the luxury of studying something that doesn't guarantee a living wage. Was politics never on the agenda? Yes, it was. I was politically interested. I was a '68er, I was in the socialist youth movement, the Falcons. And we all wanted a better society. And that was a good combination.