Former Wirtschaftsweiser: Lars Feld stays in Freiburg

Dhe former chairman of the Advisory Council, Lars Feld, surprisingly turned down the offer to become director of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) in Vienna. “I am happy to be able to continue working at the University of Freiburg and at the Walter Eucken Institute,” Feld said in a written statement on Friday evening. The change had been considered very likely – in Austria they had been waiting for a confirmation from the researcher for months. Feld was also the favorite of Austria’s Finance Minister Magnus Brunner for the very prestigious post in the neighboring country.

The 55-year-old economist, who had chaired the Council of Economic Wise Men until 2021, justified his rejection with the fact that the Vienna institute had to be restructured and, above all, strengthened in the area of ​​finance – which “didn’t happen without quarrels and too burdens”. In addition, money apparently played an important role in the decision. The Austrian National Bank recently switched its basic financing for the institute to project financing, which in Feld’s eyes apparently leads to financial uncertainties. The National Bank promised the institute that no disadvantages would arise as a result, but “not in principle followed by action”, according to Feld. He concluded: “All in all, the move to Vienna would not be without risks.”y

“The situation was obviously not correctly assessed”

The matter is presented somewhat differently in the Austrian newspaper “Der Standard” by the head of the IHS board of trustees, Franz Fischler. Feld would therefore have faced high pension losses if they left Germany. Compensating for this would have cost the institute a good one million euros – which the article says was not financially ready. Feld then explained that he could obtain a leave of absence from the university in Germany and still come to Austria without losing his entitlements. “Here he obviously did not assess the situation correctly,” Fischler is quoted as saying. The financing situation of the IHS has also been clarified for 2022, according to the head of the board of trustees. Feld did not comment on the question of pension entitlements in his statement.

Because the negotiations between Feld and the institute have been protracted, it was recently speculated that Feld might not be speculating on a post in Berlin, for example in the Federal Ministry of Finance. Feld, probably the best-known ordoliberal voice in the German-speaking world, is considered a confidante of Finance Minister Christian Lindner. However, Feld’s statement does not mention this. It states that he accepts the offer to stay from his university and the state of Baden-Württemberg: “The economic policy discussion in Germany can do with a regulatory voice. There is no excess in that regard.”