ifo Institute: German Economists Have High Hopes for Biden
Economists expect that new US President Joe Biden will have a positive impact on the economy in Germany and in the EU. This is a finding from the Economists Panel, a survey of economics professors at German universities by the ifo Institute and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Of the respondents, 71 percent rated a Biden presidency as “fairly positive,” and 5 percent rated it as “very positive” for the German economy. In contrast, 19 percent said his election would have “no impact.”
When asked about the impact on the US economy, 62 percent of respondents answered “fairly positive” and 9 percent said “very positive,” while 12 percent said “fairly negative.” “In the past, economic growth has been substantially higher under Democratic presidents than Republican presidents,” says Niklas Potrafke, Director of the ifo Center for Public Finance and Political Economy. “If this pattern continues, then there are better times ahead for the US.”
The survey respondents were most positive about Biden’s impact on climate policy, on general cooperation in global organizations, and his efforts toward peace and security in the world. In these three policy areas, the US president-elect garnered 64 to 68 percent “fairly positive” responses and just 10 to 25 percent “neutral” answers.
Looking back at Donald Trump’s term of office, the survey respondents were scathing in their assessments. A full 72 percent deemed his trade policy “very negative” and 19 percent called it “fairly negative.” Just over half (53 percent) found his policy on peace and security in the world to be “very negative” and 27 percent said “fairly negative.” Regarding development cooperation, 61 percent of respondents said his was “very negative” and 22 percent said “fairly negative.”
The survey involved 141 economists.
