Anmerkungen:
Zusammenfassung in englischer Sprache
Beschreibung:
Deutschland steht bei der Modernisierung seines Kapitalstocks vor enormen Herausforderungen. Vor dem Hintergrund einer Vernachlässigung der öffentlichen Investitionen in den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten gilt es nun, die Infrastruktur auf den neuesten Stand zu bringen und den hier aufgelaufenen Investitionsrückstand schrittweise abzubauen. Die Bewältigung der demografischen Alterung und die Dekarbonisierung der Volkswirtschaft erfordern zudem in den kommenden Jahren einen gewaltigen Kraftakt. Die Infrastruktur muss an ein postfossiles Zeitalter und den für eine alternde Bevölkerung benötigten volkswirtschaftlichen Strukturwandel angepasst werden. Fest steht, dass für diese Aufgaben völlig neue Konzepte zu entwickeln sind, um den Wohlstand hierzulande zu sichern. Das stellt auch große Anforderungen an unser Bildungssystem, das in Zukunft deutlich bessere Ergebnisse liefern muss. Bei all diesen Aufgaben spielt der Staat eine Schlüsselrolle. Er kann mit eigenen Investitionen die private Investitionstätigkeit indirekt anregen und in Bereichen, in denen wichtige Investitionsvorhaben vom Privatsektor getragen werden, geeignete Fördermaßnahmen durchführen und durch kluge Regulierung günstige Rahmenbedingungen setzen. [...]
Germany faces enormous challenges in modernizing its capital stock. After neglecting public investment over the last two decades, it is now necessary to update the infrastructure and gradually reduce the investment backlog. Managing demographic ageing and decarbonising the economy will also require major efforts in the coming years. The infrastructure needs both to be adapted to a post-fossil age and to meet the requirements of an ageing population. The education system also needs investment to deliver significantly better results in the future. New concepts must be developed in order to ensure prosperity in this country. The state plays a key role in all these tasks. It can indirectly stimulate private investment with its own investments, and it can provide favorable conditions and appropriate support measures for private investors. Unfortunately, the German state has not carried out these tasks sufficiently since the early 2000s. Most recently, there has been some trend reversal in public investment, but previous increases of public investment have been too tentative, and implementation is not progressing fast enough. Overall, Germany is increasingly putting its own economic future and thus the prosperity of future generations at risk. There is a considerable need for investment which adds up to at least €450 billion in the next ten years. In order to finance this volume of public investment, it is important to remove obstacles in the political decision-making processes and in financial relations between public subsectors. However, these reforms should not question the financial soundness of the state. The state should and can fulfil its central mandate to invest in the public capital stock and to stimulate private investments in a fiscally, economically and environmentally sustainable manner. A path is presented here that is constitutional and addresses both the temporal and financial dimensions.