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The business magazine

A new twist on sausages

A rural butcher has found a clever way to market sausages online

India

Bucket of milk

Risky appetite

A free trade agreement between the EU and India could put food security at risk, NGOs warn.

Trade

Containers at the port of Hamburg

Doha is dead

After a decade of negotiations, the Doha trade talks have ground to a halt. So what happens now?

Society

Moneyless find wealth in online networks

Trash container in the street

In times of economic hardship, some people have chosen to give up money altogether. But not having money doesn’t necessarily mean living poorly.

Empty bottles help Germans make ends meet

Living without money in Berlin

Finance crisis

The debt deal hinges on Greek political backing

Unemployment

European youth hit hardest by joblessness

Unemployed people in Madrid

Europe’s young people have been hit hard by the economic crisis. They have the highest unemployment rates compared to the overall population. The fear is that things are not going to change for at least another year.

The Business Magazine

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An inside view of the global economy with weekly business reports from the heart of Europe.

Boomtown Berlin - Hotspot for Start-ups

Khaled Juffali - A Sheikh on a tour of Germany

Studio Guest: Oliver Parche,

The globalization magazine

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Focus on the risks and opportunities shaping our global world.

Young Global Leaders, Part 3: Arab Awakening

Survey Ukraine: Sascha Saskin

The Ice-Man Cometh: Artificial Glaciers in the Himalayas
  • Bankruptcy vultures

    The year of crisis in review

    Bankruptcy vultures

    2011 was pock marked by dramatic bids to overcome multiple debt crises and seesawing financial markets. It was a year of bailout packages, crisis summits, discontented crowds and ousted regimes, especially in the Arab world. Ratings agencies taunted governments. The world found itself stewing in a giant debt soup.

  • Problem child Greece

    The year of crisis in review

    Problem child Greece

    For months Greece dominated the headlines. A rescue package early in 2011 turned out to be insufficient. A second bailout worth 100 billion euros was put together. The small southeastern nation tested the capabilities of all Europe (mythological Europa rides a bull). Greece wasn't alone. In April, Portugal called for help. That bailout cost 80 billion euros.

  • Europe's fire-fighters

    The year of crisis in review

    Europe's fire-fighters

    Every meeting of Europe's top politicians became a crisis summit. Their reassuring motto - calm had been restored. The opposite was the case. The debt write-off for Greece failed to pacify markets. The German-Franco duo, Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkozy, presented themselves as the leading fire-fighters - a move not necessarily welcomed by all Europeans.

  • Financial leverage

    The year of crisis in review

    Financial leverage

    Hedge funds were initially condemned by politicians for using risky leverage to turn small investments into large gains. Governments resorted to the same tool later to multiply the impact of their bailout plan. The 250 billion euros was to be increased to over a trillion.

  • Europe skips to evaluator's tune

    The year of crisis in review

    Europe skips to evaluator's tune

    2011 was also the year when the might of the rating agencies became all too apparent. When they lower their thumbs, nations find it more difficult to borrow money. This became especially evident when in early December, shortly before a further EU summit, Standard and Poor's threatened to lower the credit-worthiness of 15 eurozone countries, including Germany and France.

  • Debt quagmire

    The year of crisis in review

    Debt quagmire

    The United States also felt the power of the rating agencies. In August, Standard and Poor's lowered Washington's creditworthiness, raising the specter of insolvency. In the preceding months, Democrats and Republicans had spent months in Congress arguing about whether to raise the US budgetary debt ceiling. Accumulated debts rose to 15 billion euros, equal to one year's US economic output.

  • Wavering candidates

    The year of crisis in review

    Wavering candidates

    Too big to fail: If the financial system begins to wobble, key banks must be saved. It was a lesson learnt during the Lehman collapse. At the G-20 summit in Cannes a list of 29 banks considered too big to fail was published. They set tighter rules, including increases in bank capital reserves. Two German banks were named – Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank.

  • Nuclear phase-out

    The year of crisis in review

    Nuclear phase-out

    Spurred by Japan's nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima, the German government decided to phase out nuclear power by 2022. For Chancellor Angela Merkel it was a policy reversal. After her re-election in 2009, her cabinet had aborted the nuclear exit legislation passed in 2000 by a center-left government. Germany's power utilities reacted to her about-turn with staff layoffs.

  • The winners

    The year of crisis in review

    The winners

    Germany's automobile industry celebrated its 125th jubilee year. In 1886 Carl Benz had registered his patent. German carmakers had reason to celebrate in 2011, with record output and market gains by BMW, Daimler and VW. Their rivals, particularly the Koreans, did their best to challenge them.

  • The island

    The year of crisis in review

    The island

    The economic storm may have raged all around, but German everyday life appeared to be somewhat insulated. The economy grew by three percent; German export earnings surged beyond one trillion euros for the first time; and the ranks of registered jobless sank under three million. Even in 2012 Germany could well avoid a recession - a prognosis still faced by other eurozone nations.