Germany and France as reform policy problem cases. In comparison with other Western industrial countries, the Federal Republic of Germany and France have been regarded as reform policy problem cases since the 1990s. Measured against some key indicators typically used to assess the economic and social policy performance of an economy and a political community, both countries perform worse than most other states in this group. While the German model was seen as a model of economic prosperity and a high level of welfare state performance until the 1980s, the economic development in Germany in recent years has been interpreted as the decline of a superstar.