The impact of price competitiveness on Germany’s export strength, by contrast, is often overestimated. Finally, the external surpluses by definition also imply that total investment in Germany was lower than total saving.
One way to look at sovereignty is normative, and was historically favoured by absolutists such as Jean Bodin in the sixteenth century. Sovereignty here is defined in relation to rights: the right to declare war and treat the conditions of the peace, to raise taxes, to mint money and to judge in last resort. Another way to look at it is positive.