Services liberalisation in Germany : overview and the potential of deregulation ; a study by the institute for economic policy at the university of Cologne

The structure of the German economy changed drastically over time. The decline of the proportion of gross value added of the manufacturing sector at the expense of the services sector is often cited as an indicator for this structural change. However, this shift is not necessarily an indication of a decreas-ing importance of the manufacturing sector, but rather it points to a fundamental change of the gross value added process in manufacturing. Within the manufacturing process, business services and product-related services are growing in importance in development, production, marketing and sales as well as in customer relations and maintenance. With the increasing importance of intermediate inputs of the business services sector the interest in the regulatory framework for the provision of these services and the resulting welfare effect is also increasing. Inappropriate regulation can, inter alia, lead to the waste of resources in the production process and to unexploited innovation potential. Negative effects would especially occur in the downstream domestic production areas, which compete internationally and, therefore, need competitive services. Conversely, the reduction of unnecessary regulation- and trading-barriers can release unused growth potential not just in the services sector, but also in the manufacturing sector. The OECD has recorded the level of regulation for selected professional services since 1998. The indicators of the OECD confirm that substantial structural reforms have taken place in Germany in the past. Nonetheless, Germany does not have one of the lowest indicator values of EU countries. In addition, other regulation measures like the Service Trade Restrictiveness Indicator also published by the OECD and the level of economic rents suggest further deregulation potential in the professional services sector. This study offers three principles for the identification of potential deregulation targets. First, we recommend the equalisation of different profession-specific regulations for professions with comparable fields of activity to the currently lowest level of regulation. Second, one can consider the equalisation of state specific regulations within Germany for the same professions to the lowest existing intensity of intervention. Third, "gold-plating" of existing and future EU demands should be avoided. The results of the econometric analyses for selected business services carried out as a part of this study confirms the significant impacts on welfare of past structural reforms on the net value added in the downstream manufacturing production as well as in the overall economy. Furthermore, the discovered interrelationships give rise to positive indications for the expected effects of potential future reforms, which should have growth effects particular on the German manufacturing sector.