In the European context, Germany’s striking feature is its size. It is the world’s third largest economy after the US and Japan, the world’s second largest exporter of merchandise products, and the largest market in the EU, with a population of 82.3 million and a GDP of EUR 2 269.2 billion in 2001. It also faces the continuing challenge of adjusting its economy to re-unification. The integration of the new Länder has been pursued with the aim of equalising living standards across the country, and this has proved costly. Budgetary transfers ...