Clemens Fuest: Was die Milliarden für Waffen mit Rente, Pflege und Wohlstand machen

During the current state election campaigns, the AfD and BSW criticize rising public spending on arms and support for Ukraine, urging to allocate the money instead to pensions, healthcare or care services. Economically, what should be made of this? Does cutting arms spending harm German prosperity and endanger the welfare state?

Those advocating higher defense spending argue that arms spending would create demand for German industrial companies, potentially offsetting losses in other sectors such as the automotive industry. Therefore, they claim that arms spending is not just a cost factor, but also a stimulus for the German economy. " Reading also: The biggest AI danger is not superintelligence.

This only partly convinces. While it is true that arms orders can have a short-term positive economic impact in idle capacities, shortening the duration of the positive demand effect if defense spending were reduced and social spending increased would also be positive. In the medium to long term, if more workers are employed in the arms industry, they are missing out in other sectors.

Since these are primarily engineers and other well-trained workers, it can be assumed that they would also be useful elsewhere.