Dear members of the Verein für Socialpolitik,

Before the year draws to a close, we would like to inform you in this newsletter about the latest developments in and around the Verein für Socialpolitik.

Our annual conference in Regensburg was the VfS’s outstanding event of the year. We celebrated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the association with a ceremony that was both festive and entertaining. Federal Minister Habeck gave a video greeting and Federal Minister Lindner contributed to the program in person. The award ceremonies were further highlights. The conference was a success and the topic of ‚Growth and the social question‘ received the attention it deserved. Next year we will meet in Berlin!

The VfS’s initiative to improve access to research data continues to work intensively. We evaluated the survey conducted in January and developed 6 statements that are now published on the association’s website and as RatSWD discussion papers. In November, we voiced our concerns in the „Zeitgespräch“ section of the magazine Wirtschaftsdienst. On December 11, an opinion piece appeared in the FAZ and a comparative article describing the results of similar surveys on data access in the D-A-CH region is in preparation. The German Council of Economic Experts has also dedicated a separate chapter to our data concerns in its annual report. We are currently eagerly awaiting the forthcoming announcement of the key points of the Research Data Act.

The VfS Ethics Committee is active under the chairmanship of Alexander Kriwoluzky and is currently preparing a flyer in which it would like to draw attention to workshops and further training opportunities. We are very grateful for this commitment.

In addition to X, the association is now also active on LinkedIn. We regularly post about our activities there. It is also a good opportunity for association members to network with each other. So: Feel free to follow us! Click here to get to our profile.

I wish you all a peaceful end to the year and look forward to our joint activities in 2024!

Best wishes,
Regina T. Riphahn
Chairwoman of the Verein für Socialpolitik

VfS Elections 2024

The coming year 2024 will feature some important elections: The VfS members will elect a new Management Board for the term 2025-2026 as well as two members to the Executive Council for the term 2025-2028. The Election Selection Committee is currently collecting proposals from all VfS members containing nominations to fill the open posts. Nominations for Management Board members must be signed by at least 10 VfS members and nominations for Executive Council members must be signed by at least 5 VfS members.

Please send your list of nominees by post to the VfS office (attn: Election Committee) or by e-mail to office@socialpolitik.org. Nominations are accepted until December 31, 2023. For more information, please contact the Election Selection Committee or the VfS office.

VfS Cash Auditor Elections

In November, the VfS members were asked to elect a second cash auditor for 2024 in a by-election. The members elected Jochen Hundsdoerfer (FU Berlin) to the office. Congratulations!

Jochen Hundsdoerfer will carry out the cash audit in 2024 together with Gunther Friedl (TU Munich).

The following will hardly come as a surprise to researchers: a survey conducted in January 2023 among members of the Verein für Socialpolitik revealed that for around 80 percent of respondents, data access for research in Germany is worse than in comparable countries. But what can we do about it?

With the adoption of a new Research Data Act (Forschungsdatengesetz) planned for next year, researchers must now make it particularly clear what is needed for internationally competitive cutting-edge research, an informed public debate and high-quality policy advice.

The VfS is leading the way and has developed statements on the problem and concrete proposals for solutions in six working groups. You can find the statements on our website here (in German). Summary versions of the texts have also been published in the Wirtschaftsdienst (here).

Incidentally, the German Council of Economic Experts also addressed the topic in its last annual report: An entire chapter was devoted to the topic of data access (here). Let’s hope that this gets things moving!

In recent years, many have called for more diversity in economics. Claudia Goldin’s award of the Nobel prize “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes” (The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 2023) is an important signal to the field. The Harvard economic historian and labor economist has helped to bring gender-issues into the mainstream and made invaluable contributions to economics throughout a long and productive career.

In one of her early studies, Claudia Goldin traced a u-curve of women’s labor market participation in the U.S. in which employment levels sank during the transition from an agriculture-based to an industry-based economy in the 19th century and only rose again in the 20th century with the emergence of a service-based economy (and the end of formal discrimination like the “marriage bars” (Goldin, 1988)). Together with Lawrence Katz she showed the key role that oral contraceptives played in the massive (re)entry of women into the labor force (Goldin & Katz, 2002) and in her “pollution theory of discrimination”, she discussed how male-dominated professions exclude women to maintain their perceived status (Goldin, 2014).

Her recent work delves into the persistent gender gap in earnings, attributing it to educated heterosexual couples‘ responses to the conflicting demands of „greedy jobs“, i.e., those that require long and inflexible working hours, and family needs. Goldin argues that rational choice leads to mothers shouldering primary child-rearing responsibilities, curtailing their careers, while fathers seek maximal earnings (Goldin, 2021).

Claudia Goldin’s significant contributions to the study of women in the labor market are widely acknowledged and discussed further. For example, feminist economists point out that gender-specific specialization in marriage is associated with considerable and long-term financial risks for the main caregivers in the event of divorce. They also question whether long working hours in male-dominated professions are really so well paid because they are a productivity-related necessity.  Others point out that the difficult situation of less qualified women and the situation of women in the global South also deserve attention.

Today, the field of gender economics is thriving. Many questions are still unanswered. Claudia Goldin is one of the scholars to whom we owe the foundations of this field.

Literature

Promoting young talent is one of the core elements of the VfS’s work. Many projects help to support young (scientific) talent. Particularly worth mentioning this year are the „VfS Abiturpreis Wirtschaft“, which set a new record for prizes awarded this year, and the Conference Subsidy Program, which has now been in existence for over 25 years. But first, a few words about a wonderful initiative at our annual conference that prepares young academics for the transition from doctorate to professorship:

Job Market Seminar at the Annual Conference 2023

A two-day job market seminar was once again held at the VfS annual conference in Regensburg, organized by Rüdiger Bachmann (University of Notre Dame), Anna Louisa Bindler (University of Cologne) and Bastian Schulz (Aarhus University). In several exercises, the young academics learned how to present a scientific paper in three minutes, how to pass the so-called elevator pitch, academic job interviews and techniques for the appointment presentation. The discussions were lively, with a free spirit and a lot of commitment. But: what goes on in Regensburg stays in Regensburg, so that the participants are not at a disadvantage on the real academic job market. The young academics certainly enjoyed it.

The “VfS Abiturpreis Wirtschaft” entered a new round this year and was more popular than ever before. A new record was set with almost 600 awards handed out to students who did extraordinarily well in their economics classes at school. The award, consisting of a certificate, a textbook and a VfS trial membership, was awarded to 285 male and 301 female students with very good results in the field of economics. We would like to thank all the teachers who applied with their school. We would also like to thank the Joachim Herz Foundation for the generous financial support. Thanks to many years of cooperation, almost 2,000 awards have already been handed out since the start of the funding period in 2018.

We will also be awarding the „VfS Abiturpreis Wirtschaft“ again in 2024. Applications are possible from the end of March. If you are interested, please visit our homepage.

The Conference Subsidy Program (Vortragsprämienprogramm) already exists for over 25 years - it was first launched on March 5, 1997. It is aimed at young members of the Verein für Socialpolitik who are primarily affiliated with an academic institution in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.

The VfS - this year again with the generous financial support of the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Swiss National Bank - promotes the international presence of young economists with the Conference Subsidy Program with an award of Euros 600 for presentations at renowned international conferences. Thanks to donations of Euros 25,000 from the Deutsche Bundesbank and CHF 15,000 from the Swiss National Bank, 67 awards could be handed out this year. We would like to thank the banks for their support of the program.

The program will enter a new round next year. We will keep you updated on our homepage.

To mark the 150th anniversary of the association’s founding, the impressive educational series „Wirtschaft verstehen, Zukunft gestalten“ was created. In it, 21 professors answer important economic questions of our time, such as „What role does the CO₂ price play in climate protection?“ or „How have wage and income inequality developed over time?“. The series is primarily aimed at schoolchildren, but is nevertheless interesting for all age groups.

In recent months, the articles have been taken up by the FAZ in the „Der Volkswirt“ section of the newspaper and most of them have also been published in video format in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. Take a look at the articles (here, in German) or the videos on the topic (here). Many thanks to all contributors!

The theme of this year’s annual conference was „Growth and the ‚social question‘ “. The conference - and in particular the three fascinating keynote speeches by Charlotte Bartels, Albrecht Ritschl and Dietrich Vollrath - showed that the „social question“ has lost none of its topicality since the VfS was founded 150 years ago.

The core conference, the oldest part of the conference - this year organized by Davide Cantoni, was an excellent anchor point for academic exchange and food for thought for the future. The academic exchange was further highlighted in the Open Conference, organized by Sebastian Braun. In around 400 presentations, the field of economics showed itself from its best side: thank you for all the exciting topics and excellent discussions.

The highlight of the conference was the ceremony on September 25, 2023, with Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner as the keynote speaker. In his speech on „Financial policy at a turning point“ (Finanzpolitik in der Zeitenwende), he also listened to the wishes of those present for better access to data - a topic that was then taken up again in a variety of media reports (in German).

Finally, we would like to thank everyone involved once again, above all Jürgen Jerger and his team, for the great organization and all sponsors for their support. In the VfS’s 150th year, we can look back with pride on a conference with a broad scientific base, high academic caliber and diversity. If you like, you can also take another look at the best memories on Flickr: click here for the photos.

By the way, next year’s annual conference will take place in Berlin. (More on this below.)

The following prizes were awarded at this year’s Annual Conference:

• David Dorn received the Hermann Heinrich Gossen Award
• Veronika Grimm received the Gustav Stolper Award
• Hanna Schwank received the Reinhard Selten Award (Young Author Best Paper Award)

Following a great tradition, we have conducted short interviews with all award winners.

Looking back: What do you wish you had known earlier as an economics student?

David Dorn: That economics not only deals with abstract concepts and models, but also with many social problems that people are confronted with in their everyday lives.

Veronika Grimm: During my studies I missed an in-depth course on game theory - I would have liked to have learned it earlier - I taught myself a lot of it during my thesis and only attended courses and supported courses on game theory during my doctorate. I really enjoyed that.

Hanna Schwank: As a student, I would have liked to have known earlier how diverse economics is. The start of the course naturally focuses on conventional macro- and microeconomic theories. However, my enthusiasm for the subject only fully developed when I began to deal with issues that intersected with other disciplines such as sociology, psychology, political science and history.

Looking at the present:  What are you most concerned with in your research right now?

David Dorn: I study how globalization and technological change affect the labor market, society and politics. Major upheavals in the labor market can cause surprisingly long-lasting social problems.

Veronika Grimm: My work covers energy markets, especially with the question of how global energy trading will change in the course of the transformation to climate neutrality and what options there are for Europe. In 20 years‘ time, we will be importing large quantities of green hydrogen and energy sources based on it. There is now an opportunity to diversify imports from the outset - above all, many democracies around the world have favorable conditions for the production of green hydrogen.

A second research topic is the information processing of individuals in times of social media. There are many well-known biases in the interpretation of information obtained through social networks. I am interested in what significance these have in the use of social media, how this can be misused and how the misuse of social media can be curbed through suitable framework conditions.

Hanna Schwank: I am currently focusing on two central research topics. On the one hand, I am researching the effects of natural disasters on directly affected individuals and households, looking at the impact on employment, for example. I am also working intensively on gender differences in the labor market, with my current focus on the gender pay gap.

Looking ahead: the German Federal Government is currently planning a new Research Data Act (Forschungsdatengesetz). What should definitely be in the new Research Data Act?

David Dorn: It would be desirable for administrative data collected by the state to be made accessible for research purposes. Good access to data seems particularly important to me for young researchers who have neither a wide network of contacts nor a large research budget.

Veronika Grimm: An output-oriented statistical legislation should be implemented in which the institutions are granted a great deal of freedom in identifying and collecting the necessary data. In addition, research should be given a priority in the weighing of interests, administrative data should be made more extensively usable for research and data linkage for research purposes should be facilitated.

Hanna Schwank: In my opinion, linkability and access to data should be anchored as key points in the new Research Data Act. Although a lot of data is collected in Germany, the potential often remains untapped because legal restrictions hinder the linking of different data sets. Furthermore, it is crucial that all relevant datasets are made accessible to the entire scientific community, regardless of affiliation to specific institutions.

The VfS annual conference 2024 will take place from September 15 to 18, 2024, at the TU Berlin. The theme of the core conference is „Upcoming Labor Market Challenges“. In addition to the core conference, there will again be an „Open Conference“ for which papers from all areas of economics can be submitted for presentation. Parallel to the individual presentations, „Organized Sessions“ are also possible again. The submission window is from February 1, 2024, to March 1, 2024. You can find more information on our homepage.

This year, the Verein für Socialpolitik celebrated its 150th anniversary. The first issue 2023 of „Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik“ was dedicated to the historical development of the association in the section „Aus aktuellem Anlass“ - a nice prelude to our anniversary, which was celebrated this year in Regensburg. To mark the occasion, the Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner spoke about „Financial policy at a turning point“ - with a slight delay and therefore all the more entertaining in terms of music. This was followed by the turning point in fiscal policy with the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on the incompatibility with the constitution and thus the Second Supplementary Budget Act 2021 was found legally void - the prospects for economic policy have changed and the need for discussion has grown.

This year, we have certainly come closer to our goal of developing the “Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik“ with substantive, current and relevant contributions as an increasingly indispensable medium of economic policy discourse in German-speaking countries. For example, Clemens Fuest and Niklas Potrafke analyzed the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) against the backdrop of European options for action - and showed that Europe would be ill-advised to enter into a clumsy subsidy race. The same applies to the article by Reint Gropp and Alexander Reifschneider, in which they shed light on the fact that subsidies for semiconductor production facilities are difficult to justify. In view of the recent budgetary upheavals, these findings take on even greater significance.

Christian von Hirschhausen and Alexander Wimmers‘ analysis of how long the dismantling of decommissioned nuclear power plants and the disposal of radioactive waste will be with us - and what serious regulatory issues will arise from this - was similarly explosive. And these are just a few selected examples of the exciting articles in this year’s Perspektiven. As editor-in-chief, I particularly enjoy the opportunity to provide our readers with a concise overview of a specific issue in the Our World in Figures (“Unsere Welt in Zahlen”) section. Among other things, I have addressed the economic weakness of the present and the challenges of the future under the motto „No good therapy without an accurate diagnosis“: Overcoming Germany’s dwindling attractiveness as an investment location is the mission for all those who want to reconcile prosperity, climate protection and social inclusion.

As the team behind the Perspektiven, we hope that you, dear readers, have enjoyed reading this year’s editions and are looking forward to the next editions. There will be much to discuss: Not least, dealing with digitalization, demographics, decarbonization and deglobalization requires intense debate, substantive analysis and evidence-based solutions - daunting tasks that are highly likely to fail without an outstanding data infrastructure. That is why our association chair Regina T. Riphahn is increasingly concerned with the shortcomings of research data access and the association is vehemently committed to improving data access. I hope that this wish will come true for you and for all of us. Finally, I wish you a successful end to the year, a reflective Christmas season and all the best for the new year and the best of health.

Your Christoph M. Schmidt

Editor-in-chief

At the end of the 2023 calendar year, I will be stepping down as editor-in-chief of the German Economic Review after eight years, in accordance with the VfS statutes. Working as an editor in a team with Nora Strecker from University College Dublin has been great fun. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have enriched the journal with their contributions. There have been some highlights in recent years. For example, the special issue on German datasets has boosted the impact factor and was welcomed with great interest from our readers. In addition, Covid has not only caused problems, but has also given rise to interesting and influential articles.

With Hartmut Egger, the journal will have a good editor-in-chief for the coming years. Nora Strecker will ensure administrative continuity. There are already good concepts and new ideas. We all hope that members and authors from outside the VfS will support the journal in the future with contributions and, not least, citations. I wish the editorial team every success.

Peter Egger

Editor-in-chief

In 2024, the Economic History Committee will award the Schmölders Award of the Schmölders Stiftung für Verhaltensforschung im Wirtschaftsleben

This prize, donated by the Schmölders Stiftung für Verhaltensforschung im Wirtschaftsleben, is endowed with Euros 3,000 and is awarded annually alternately by the Social Science Committee, the Finance Committee and the Economic History Committee of the VfS.

The prize is awarded to articles by authors who are members of the Verein für Socialpolitik. Papers from the field of economic history research that are characterized by originality and a high academic standard may be submitted. Submitted essays must have already been published or accepted for publication. The year of publication must not be more than three calendar years ago.

A jury consisting of the Chair of the Committee for Economic History, Sibylle Lehmann-Hasemeyer, the three committee members, Davide Cantoni, Carsten Burhop and Christina Lubinski as well as (in an advisory capacity) the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Schmölders Stiftung, Kilian Bizer, will decide on the award winner.

The award winners will be invited to the annual conference of the Economic History Committee (March 6-8, 2024 in Cologne) and will present the award-winning work there. The winners will be announced at the annual conference of the Verein für Socialpolitik.

Submissions in PDF format can be sent to the Chair of the Economic History Committee Sibylle Lehmann-Hasemeyer (slehmann@uni-hohenheim.de) by December 31, 2023.

The YES! - Young Economic Solutions is one of the largest school competitions focusing on economic and social challenges for the younger generation. Students from the 10th grade onwards develop solutions for global economic, ecological and social challenges and present them at a school congress. Dedicated scientists from economic and social science institutes provide the topics and work with the school teams as equals to develop ideas. On the way to YES!, all participating schools receive continuous support and guidance on the topics of research, presentation and media work. In this context, the VfS series „Wirtschaft verstehen, Zukunft gestalten“ is also made available to the young people as a resource. This enables the teams to acquire additional knowledge for current issues. Registration for YES! 2024 is open until December 17, 2023: www.young-economic-solutions.org

Subscribe to our ”Job Alert” and stay updated on current job offers.

We would like to thank all members of the association who have been loyal to us for years or who have recently joined the association. Please feel free to contact the VfS office at any time with questions or suggestions and stay healthy.