For years, China has been the subject of global criticism for what’s seen as a warped trade and exchange-rate policy that produces big current account surpluses at the expense of others. Trade surpluses in China, the argument go, produces job losses in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Germany, another big trade surplus country, often gets a pass. That’s because Germany’s trade surplus is seen as the reward for smart policies and frugality.

Forget the conventional wisdom, say two senior economists at the Bank for International Settlements, the central bank organization in Switzerland. Not only is Germany’s current account surplus now much larger than China’s as a percentage of GDP, Germany hasn’t used currency policy – it is part of the euro zone — to do much about it.