Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

China's leaders want to boost the country's faltering fertility rate, but they also push

family values and want parents to be married. We examine the struggles faced by single mothers

and the battle to make things more equitable.

And the pandemic has driven loads of demand for mental health apps, and the supply is skyrocketing

too. But it's hard to put numbers to how much any of the apps helps, and many of them

are worryingly sloppy with very sensitive information.

This morning in Germany's Parliament, the chief leaders of the Bundeskanzlerin, Frau

Dr. Angela Merkel, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel was given a standing ovation by her colleagues.

Shortly after, members voted in her successor, Olaf Scholz.

With his inauguration at the Presidential Palace, he'll officially become the country's

first new leader in 16 years. He's got some big shoes to fill. So what can we expect from

the Scholz Chancellor's ship?

Well Olaf Scholz in some respects is a classic German politician, serious, sober, not especially

exciting, highly competent, very experienced. Although in some respects you might say that

Mr. Scholz takes these characteristics to excess.

Tom Nuddle is the economist's brilliant bureau chief. In an earlier phase in his career,

he acquired the nickname Schultz-O-Matt for this very robotic way he had of answering questions

that were put to him by the press, and it's a habit that he hasn't entirely shed since

then.

And how is it that the Scholz-O-Matt became the most powerful person in Germany? What's

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