Status: 08/10/2022 1:41 p.m
For months, two positions in Germany’s most important advisory body for economic issues were vacant. Today the cabinet appointed the new members. Female economists are now in the majority in the Advisory Council.
The council of experts to assess overall economic development – the so-called “economic experts” – which has been understaffed for months, is complete again. In a cabinet meeting today, the federal government appointed the two economists Ulrike Malmendier and Martin Werding. What are the special areas of expertise of the scientists?
That’s what the “wise men” do
The Advisory Council for the Assessment of Overall Economic Development is intended to advise politicians on economic issues. The members, who are independent experts, regularly prepare reports on the economic situation in Germany. The expert opinions also contain forecasts and are intended to identify undesirable economic developments.
Every November, the economic experts publish a comprehensive annual report. There are also special reports and expertises on selected topics.
Ulrike Malmendier
Image: Ed Caldwell for Haas School of Business
Ulrike Malmendier is Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. Her research focus is behavioral economics. She is considered an expert on the subject of inflation and, together with other researchers, was able to show that people’s inflation expectations are strongly influenced by whether they have had more experience with high inflation or stable prices in their lives.
From 1991 to 1993 she trained as a bank clerk at Deutsche Bank. She then studied economics and law at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. After completing her doctorate in law at the University of Bonn in 2000, she received her second doctorate from Harvard University in 2002.
Malmendier succeeds the economist Lars Feld, who left the Council of Economic Experts a year and a half ago. He was chairman until the end of February 2021, after which his contract was not renewed.
Martin Werding
Image: imago images/Jürgen Heinrich
Martin Werding is Professor of Social Policy and Public Finance at the Ruhr University Bochum. His main research areas are public finance, social policy, population economics with the topics of migration and reproduction, and labor market policy. Werding has also been a member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz since 2016.
The Leverkusen native studied philosophy and economics at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and at the University of Passau. From 2000 to 2008 he headed the department of social policy and labor markets at the Munich ifo Institute. In 2007 he was visiting professor at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.
Werding replaces Volker Wieland, who left the board prematurely at the end of April this year. He joins the committee at the suggestion of the employer.
The “wise men”
Current members of the Expert Council are the Munich economist Monika Schnitzer, Veronika Grimm from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Achim Truger from the University of Essen Duisburg. The “economic experts” are appointed by the Federal President for five years at the suggestion of the Federal Government.
The Expert Council last March: Monika Schnitzer, Achim Truger, the former member Volker Wieland and Veronika Grimm (from left)
Image: dpa
The fact that two new members are now moving into the council puts an end to the impasse of the body, which last worked in threes without a chair. Normally, the Advisory Council consists of five members; but for a year and a half the body was understaffed. When the Freiburg economist Lars Feld left in the spring of last year, the grand coalition dragged out a successor plan. First the traffic light government could not agree on a successor, then said some economists from the offered job. In April, Volker Wieland withdrew from the Council early for personal reasons.
The question of who will now chair the Council of Experts is still open. Achim Truger has already spoken out in favor of Monika Schnitzer. The energy expert Veronika Grimm was supported by Volker Wieland – a stalemate that should not be repeated now.