To sum up, some of the gains from the last upswing have clearly been lost due to the financial crisis. Compared with other countries – especially some euro-area member states – Germany is in a relatively good position, as its economy and public finances were in comparatively good shape when the financial crisis broke out.
In a sense, Germany reaped the fruits of previous reforms also during the crisis. In addition, the German economy was spared additional burdens encountered due to lack of structural imbalances in the domestic economy, such as a pre-crisis boom in the construction sector or a housing price bubble  2  BIS Review 57/2010  bursting during the financial crisis.