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Thomas Puls in Italian Institute for International Political Studies External Publication 19. July 2023 Infrastructure: The Next German Challenge?

Closed bridges, outdated railway control centres, missing high-voltage power lines between north and south, as well as dead zones in the mobile network. In recent years, bad news about the German infrastructure has been piling up.

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Thomas Puls in Italian Institute for International Political Studies External Publication 19. July 2023

Infrastructure: The Next German Challenge?

Carlo Secchi / Alessandro Gili (Hg.) Enhancing Resilience in a Chaotic World: The Role of Infrastructure

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

Closed bridges, outdated railway control centres, missing high-voltage power lines between north and south, as well as dead zones in the mobile network. In recent years, bad news about the German infrastructure has been piling up.

Especially in western Germany, many infrastructures are aging rapidly. In the late 1960s and 1970s, infrastructure in the western federal states was massively expanded. This is especially true of the Autobahn network, which forms the backbone of the transport infrastructure. But electricity and communication networks were also brought up to an exemplary standard for the time. Afterwards, investments in infrastructure in the west of the republic were significantly reduced, while strain on the existing networks continued to increase. After the turn of the millennium, investments in infrastructure were cut nationwide. For about a decade and a half, Germany lived off its substance, especially in the area of transport infrastructure, and struggled to adapt electricity and communication networks to the demands of decentralised energy generation and mobile data use. In fact, policymakers have begun to respond to these challenges. Since around 2015, the budgets for infrastructure investments have been increasing again and new positions are also being created for the engineers needed for implementation. Unfortunately, it has also become apparent that the problems now go far beyond a lack of funds from public budgets. German planning and approval procedures are proving to be particularly obstructive. These approval procedures have largely mutated into a right to prevent construction. The situation is exacerbated by a clear shortage of skilled workers. This extends from the planning and approving authorities to the construction industry and the agencies in charge of grid operation.

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Thomas Puls in Italian Institute for International Political Studies External Publication 19. July 2023

Infrastructure: The Next German Challenge?

Carlo Secchi / Alessandro Gili (Hg.) Enhancing Resilience in a Chaotic World: The Role of Infrastructure

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

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The automotive industry in 2024
Thomas Puls IW-Report No. 38 22. September 2024

The automotive industry in 2024

Since the turn of the millennium, the epicenter of the global automotive industry has shifted to Asia. Virtually all growth has taken place in Asia and China in particular. In 2023, almost 60 percent of all motor vehicles were built in Asia and almost 50 ...

IW

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Thomas Puls Expertise 1. July 2024

Compendium 5.5: CO2 Regulation of Road Transport in Europe

With the Compendium CO2 Regulation in Europe, the IW has been providing the interested public with a comprehensive collection of data on the development of CO2 emissions from passenger car traffic in the European Union, as well as on the applicable regulatory ...

IW

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