ABSTRACT
Germany has a dense institutional infrastructure covering and permeating all aspects of life.18 This network of government, parastatal and private institutions gives the country’s economic and social system structure and stability. Obvious though the positive correlation between institutional infrastructure and economic development is, it is difficult to prove in terms of strict causality.19 Above all, it is impossible to identify a given institutional structure as being the best for development processes. The tasks, political and constitutional background, past patterns of development and options and other environmental factors are too diverse to permit a country’s institutions to be assessed on the basis of economic criteria.20
