When it comes to global economic imbalances, Germany, with its massive trade surplus, is often seen as one of the worst offenders. But the economic crisis is revealing a serious German deficit in academic economists prepared to take on US counterparts and defend Berlin's plans for combating continental Europe's worst recession since the second world war.

On Wednesday Angela Merkel, chancellor, hosts a summit of business leaders, trade unionists and economists to discuss the downturn. Officials have played down the prospect of a change in strategy; Germany has so far resisted a fresh round of growth-boosting initiatives.

One result seems certain. Beyond Germany, the meeting will be portrayed as another wasted opportunity. Ms Merkel will be exposed to the criticism of economists such as Paul Krugman, the winner of last year's Nobel economics prize, who the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted last week “would not be the sharp-tongued columnist and book author if he did not have an apparently simple answer to pressing questions, such as how the Great Depression can be avoided”.