What makes Germany's recent political convulsion so remarkable is not just that it's happened in a country that's renowned for its political stability, but also that it's happened in a country that's so, well, so rich.

德國最近的政治動盪之所以如此引人注目，不僅是因為它發生在一個以政治穩定著稱的國家，還因為它發生在一個如此富裕的國家。

Since at least the early 2000s, the German economy has been the envy of Europe, with a strong industrial base, consistent export-driven growth, and barely any sovereign debt.

至少自 2000 年代初以來，德國經濟一直是歐洲羨慕的對象，它擁有強大的工業基礎、持續的出口驅動型增長，而且幾乎沒有任何主權債務。

Many commentators argued that the populist, anti-establishment politics that swept through

許多評論家認為，席捲全球的民粹主義、反建制政治

Europe in the late 2010s was, in large part, a reaction to economic stagnation, and that

2010 年代末的歐洲在很大程度上是對經濟停滯的反應，而且

Germany's economic strength made it essentially invulnerable to this sort of political upheaval.

德國的經濟實力使其基本上不受這種政治動盪的影響。

Today, however, the two main parties collectively poll on less than 50%.

然而，如今兩大政黨的民調結果加起來還不到 50%。

Olaf Scholz has an approval rating of negative 39, and the AFD, usually described as far right, have just won their first state election in Thuringia, and might well be on to win again in Brandenburg on Sunday.

奧拉夫-肖爾茨（Olaf Scholz）的支持率為負 39，而通常被稱為極右翼的民主力量聯盟（AFD）剛剛在圖林根州贏得了他們的首次州選舉，並很有可能在週日的勃蘭登堡州選舉中再次獲勝。

There are lots of reasons for this, of course.

這當然有很多原因。

Scholz's current coalition is paralysed by infighting, Germany's generous immigration and asylum policies were never everyone's cup of tea, and the German economy has indeed been through a tough few months.

肖爾茨上司的現任聯盟因內訌而癱瘓，德國慷慨的移民和庇護政策從來都不是所有人的菜，而德國經濟也確實經歷了艱難的幾個月。

But one of the reasons that Germany's economic strength might not have inculcated its electorate against extremism is inequality.

但是，德國的經濟實力可能並沒有向選民灌輸反對極端主義的思想，原因之一就是不平等。

Here, we're not really talking about the East-West divide, although that's clearly politically salient at the moment, but rather the fact that if you look at wealth instead of income, Germany is one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.

在這裡，我們並不是在談論東西方的鴻溝，儘管這在當前顯然是政治上的突出問題，而是在談論一個事實，即如果不看收入而看財富，德國是發達國家中最不平等的國家之一。

So in this video, we're going to take a look at Germany's economic inequality, how it's got so bad, and how it interacts with Germany's wider economic crisis.

是以，在這段視頻中，我們將看看德國的經濟不平等問題，它是如何變得如此嚴重的，以及它與德國更廣泛的經濟危機之間是如何相互作用的。

Before we start, if you haven't already, please consider subscribing and ringing the bell to stay in the loop and be notified when we release new videos.

在我們開始之前，如果您還沒有訂閱，請考慮訂閱並按鈴，以便在我們發佈新視頻時及時收到通知。

Now, broadly speaking, there are two ways of measuring inequality.

現在，從廣義上講，衡量不平等有兩種方法。

You can look at income, or you can look at wealth.

你可以看收入，也可以看財富。

Most of the time, we focus on income, because it's easier to measure.

大多數時候，我們關注收入，因為它更容易衡量。

Most people have a single salary, and governments generally do a pretty good job of tracking our salaries for tax reasons.

大多數人的工資都是單一的，而出於稅收原因，政府一般都會對我們的工資進行很好的跟蹤。

And on this measure, Germany looks like it's actually doing pretty well.

從這個角度來看，德國的表現似乎還不錯。

According to the latest Eurostat data, after taxes and benefits, Germany's income distribution has a Gini coefficient of 29.4, well below the EU and Eurozone averages, as well as peer economies like France, Italy, and Spain.

根據歐盟統計局的最新數據，扣除稅收和福利後，德國收入分配的基尼係數為 29.4，遠低於歐盟和歐元區的平均水平，也低於法國、意大利和西班牙等同類經濟體。

However, if you look at wealth, in other words, how much people have in assets like stocks and property, Germany doesn't fare so well.

然而，如果從財富角度來看，即人們擁有多少股票和房產等資產，德國的情況並不樂觀。

Now a quick caveat here.

這裡有一個簡單的注意事項。

The data does vary a bit, because measuring wealth is more difficult.

由於衡量財富比較困難，數據確實有些差異。

And it's been especially difficult to do in Germany, since it scrapped its wealth tax in the mid-90s, when the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that it was inconsistent with

德國在上世紀 90 年代中期取消了財富稅，因為聯邦憲法法院裁定財富稅不符合《聯邦憲法》的規定。

Germany's constitutional protection for property.

德國憲法對財產的保護。

Nonetheless, by most accounts, Germany has some of the worst wealth inequality in the developed world.

儘管如此，從大多數方面來看，德國是發達國家中貧富不均最嚴重的國家之一。

According to a study by the German think tank DIW Berlin, using data from the mid-2010s, something like 40% of Germans have essentially zero net wealth, and Germany's wealth distribution has a Gini coefficient of 0.76, more than basically every other European country.

根據德國智庫DIW Berlin的一項研究，利用2010年代中期的數據，大約40%的德國人的淨財富基本為零，德國財富分配的基尼係數為0.76，基本上超過了其他所有歐洲國家。

Similarly, UBS Global's wealth report for 2023 found that the top 5% of Germans own over half of the country's total wealth, the highest fraction in Europe after Sweden and Czechia.

同樣，瑞銀全球發佈的 2023 年財富報告發現，德國財富排名前 5%的人擁有德國總財富的一半以上，是歐洲僅次於瑞典和捷克的最高比例。

While a study by the European Central Bank from 2016 found that the bottom quartile of

歐洲中央銀行 2016 年的一項研究發現，在全球人口中排名後四分位

Germans have less wealth than not just their French and Italian counterparts, but also the bottom quartile of Estonians and Greeks.

德國人的財富不僅少於法國人和意大利人，也少於愛沙尼亞人和希臘人中最底層的四分之一。

So why is this?

為什麼會這樣？

Well, it's in part because Germany doesn't tax wealth, which both incentivises and enables wealth accumulation.

部分原因是德國不徵收財富稅，這既激勵了財富積累，也促進了財富積累。

Wealth-rated taxes account for less than 1% of GDP in Germany, compared to between 3 and 4% in the US, UK and France.

在德國，財富稅佔 GDP 的比例不到 1%，而在美國、英國和法國，這一比例在 3% 到 4% 之間。

This is both because of the constitutional ruling we mentioned earlier, but also because the German political class worries that wealth taxes on stuff like property, shares and inheritances could hurt the famed Mittelstand, middle-sized, often family-run, but very successful companies, widely considered to be the backbone of the German economy.

這既是因為我們前面提到的憲法裁決，也是因為德國政界擔心對房產、股票和遺產等徵收財富稅可能會損害著名的中型企業（Mittelstand），這些中型企業通常由家族經營，但非常成功，被廣泛認為是德國經濟的支柱。

But Germany's wealth inequality is also the consequence of the fact that Germans are probably too risk-averse with their savings.

但是，德國的財富不平等也是德國人在儲蓄方面過於規避風險的結果。

Germans save a fair bit of their incomes, but they generally either keep it as cash or leave it in low-interest savings accounts, instead of riskier but higher-yield investments like stocks or property.

德國人會將收入的相當一部分存起來，但他們通常要麼把錢存成現金，要麼存入低息儲蓄賬戶，而不是進行股票或房地產等風險較大但收益較高的投資。

While this is in part because it's not easy to do, Germany doesn't have the equivalent of say a stocks and shares ICA that we have in the UK, surveys suggest that it's also because Germans just consider the stock market to be either too risky or too complicated.

雖然部分原因是這並不容易做到，德國沒有像英國那樣的股票和股票投資管理局，但調查顯示，這也是因為德國人認為股市風險太大或太複雜。

Today just 10% of Germans own stocks and less than 50% own their own home, the lowest rate in Europe.

如今，僅有 10%的德國人擁有股票，不到 50%的德國人擁有自己的住房，這一比例在歐洲最低。

This also explains why wealth inequality has been so persistent in Germany.

這也解釋了為什麼德國的財富不平等現象如此頑固。

Poorer households suffer from lower yields on their savings, which actually devalue in real terms when inflation is high, while wealthy households enjoy higher yields and modest taxes.

貧困家庭的儲蓄收益率較低，當通貨膨脹率較高時，儲蓄實際上會實際貶值，而富裕家庭的儲蓄收益率較高，稅收也不高。

This largely explains why Germany has some of the worst social mobility in Europe.

這在很大程度上解釋了為什麼德國是歐洲社會流動性最差的國家。

On average in Germany, it takes 6 generations for a family in the bottom 10% to reach median income, with Hungary being the only European country in the OECD to fare worse on this metric.

在德國，處於收入最低 10% 的家庭平均需要六代人的時間才能達到收入中位數，而匈牙利是經合組織中唯一在這一指標上表現較差的歐洲國家。

You get the idea then.

那你就明白了。

Thanks to its tax system and hyper-cautious saving habit, Germany has some of the worst wealth inequality in the developed world, often overlooked due to our focus on income inequality.

由於德國的稅收制度和過度謹慎的儲蓄習慣，德國是發達國家中財富不平等現象最嚴重的國家之一，而我們對收入不平等的關注卻往往忽視了這一點。

But even when it comes to income, Germany isn't perfect.

但即使在收入方面，德國也並非完美無缺。

German market incomes are as unequal as the Americans, and while things might look a bit better once you factor in direct taxes and benefits, if you include indirect taxes on stuff like tobacco, alcohol and energy, Germany's tax system doesn't look quite so progressive.

德國人的市場收入與美國人一樣不平等，如果算上直接稅和福利，情況可能會好一些，但如果算上菸草、酒精和能源等間接稅，德國的稅收制度就不那麼累進了。

Poorer households are also disproportionately affected by Germany's chronic public underinvestment.

德國長期公共投資不足對貧困家庭的影響也格外嚴重。

For context, in large part due to the infamous debt break, German public investment has long been way below the European average, and today its public infrastructure, stuff like roads, public transport and internet, is all in dire need of repair.

如今，德國的公共基礎設施，如道路、公共交通和互聯網，都亟待修復。

Because poorer households usually rely on this public infrastructure more, this underinvestment essentially exacerbates inequality.

由於貧困家庭通常更依賴於這些公共基礎設施，這種投資不足實質上加劇了不平等。

Anyway, the point we're trying to make is that Germany is less economically equal than many people realise, especially when it comes to wealth.

總之，我們想說的是，德國在經濟上的平等程度比很多人意識到的要低，尤其是在財富方面。

This obviously has a destabilising effect on politics, but also plausibly takes a toll on the economy too.

這顯然會對政治產生不穩定的影響，但也可能對經濟造成影響。

There are lots of ways of diagnosing Germany's current economic malaise, but one way of looking at it is that Germany is too reliant on exports.

診斷德國當前經濟萎靡不振的方法有很多，但其中一種方法是，德國過於依賴出口。

This is in part because people just want German goods, but it's also because Germany's unequal wealth distribution reduces domestic demand.

這部分是因為人們只想要德國貨，但也因為德國不平等的財富分配減少了國內需求。

Wealthy Germans save more and spend less, both because that's just what rich people do, but also because of Germany's income-focused tax system, while poorer Germans can't spend as much as they'd like because they just don't have any wealth at all, which means that they have to save whatever they can out of caution.

富裕的德國人儲蓄更多，花錢更少，這既是因為富人就是這樣，也是因為德國以收入為中心的稅收制度，而較貧窮的德國人則無法隨心所欲地花錢，因為他們根本沒有任何財富，這意味著他們不得不出於謹慎而儘可能地儲蓄。

Redistributing some of this wealth would therefore increase domestic demand, which could reduce

是以，重新分配部分財富將增加國內需求，從而減少

Germany's reliance on exports and provide at least a partial way out of its economic crisis.

德國對出口的依賴，至少為擺脫經濟危機提供了部分途徑。

Fans of TLDR, like you, care about understanding the world around them.

TLDR 的粉絲們和你們一樣，都希望瞭解周圍的世界。

And that's where today's sponsor Imprint comes into play.

這就是今天的贊助商 Imprint 的作用所在。

Because if you care about building a life of learning, then Imprint is the app for you.

因為，如果你關心學習生活，那麼 "印記 "就是適合你的應用程序。

It's a brand new way to learn, built from the ground up.

這是一種全新的學習方式，從基礎做起。

And seriously, unless you've used the app before, you likely haven't experienced anything like this.

說真的，除非你以前用過這個應用程序，否則你很可能沒有經歷過這樣的事情。

That's because Imprint is beautifully illustrated and animated, creating a highly visual, bite-sized and interactive learning experience.

這是因為《版本說明》配有精美的插圖和動畫，創造了一種高度可視化、一口式和互動式的學習體驗。

It's the perfect antidote to a world where social media tries to keep us mindlessly dopamine scrolling day in, day out.

在社交媒體日復一日地讓我們無意識地滾動多巴胺的世界裡，它是一劑完美的解毒劑。

Their library includes courses on topics like psychology, history, philosophy, finance, productivity, and many more, as well as quick reads you can consume in a single sitting.

他們的資料庫包括心理學、歷史、哲學、金融、生產力等主題的課程，以及你可以一口氣讀完的快速讀物。

In fact, I've been using the Essential Philosophy Theories and Thinkers course, and it's been an excellent way to brush up on some knowledge from college that I genuinely thought was lost.

事實上，我一直在使用 "哲學理論與思想家精要 "課程，這是我重溫大學時代一些知識的絕佳方式，我真的以為這些知識已經丟失了。

And with all of the developments happening these days, from elections to AI to geopolitical tensions, it's been helpful to revisit some of the world's greatest thinkers.

如今，從大選到人工智能，再到地緣政治緊張局勢，各種事態發展層出不窮，重溫一些世界上最偉大的思想家的思想對我們很有幫助。

So make yourself feel better about your screen time, build a real habit of learning every day and join the millions of people using Imprint.

是以，請讓自己對螢幕時間感覺好一些，養成每天學習的真正習慣，並加入使用 Imprint 的數百萬人的行列。

If you use the link in the description, the first 200 people will get 20% off an annual plan.

如果您使用說明中的鏈接，前 200 名用戶可享受年度計劃八折優惠。

Plus, they'll know you came from us.

而且，他們會知道你來自我們這裡。