[c1sc0]

First of all, Germany is not banning all forms of shorting, just naked short selling. Even then, banning a type of investment unilaterally has only one effect: driving investors out of germany. In today's connected world, money will always flow to the least taxed location. Regulation is just another kind of tax. We have global markets, but no global government to enforce market regulation. So, in my opinion it doesn't matter whether you think Germany's policy is good or bad: when something is futile, good or bad doesn't matter.