Germany’s post-1949 Federal Republic was accustomed to being regarded as Europe’s great economic success story, but it never really recovered from the post-unification recession of the early 1990’s, with growth sluggish to non-existent. The consensual society that was at the center of the Federal Republic’s Wirtschaftswunder now looks inflexible, throwing up obstacles to change.&#160;
1949年后的德国联邦共和国已经习惯被看作欧洲伟大经济的一个成功传奇，但是它却从未真正从1990年代早期东西德统一后的经济衰退中恢复，疲软的经济增长毫无成效。那个曾经一度是联邦共和国的经济奇迹（Wirtschaftswunder）中心的协议社会现在看来顽固僵硬，抛出种种有阻改革的障碍。