Home is where the capital is

摘要

Germans are wary savers and investors, shunning houses, stocks and corporate bonds in favour of low-yielding savings accounts and stingy private pension plans. But even Germans are chafing at the euro zone's ultra-low interest rates. Many of them are turning to a more daring and yet somehow comforting investment: small bonds issued by Germany's medium-sized Mittelstand companies. The Mittelstand comprises less a set of private, often family-owned firms and more an idea. Typically they are first-rate producers of banal industrial components, such as car locks or refrigerator compressors. Robert Wardrop of Cambridge's Judge Business School surveyed Germans about their views of big companies, big commercial banks, small co-operative or savings banks and Mittelstand firms. The Mittelstand was by far the most popular, with the least variation in attitudes.