International Scientific Symposium to Mark Hans-Werner Sinn’s Retirement and the 25th Anniversary of the Center for Economic Studies (CES)

The Center for Economic Studies (CES), founded by Hans-Werner Sinn, celebrated its 25th anniversary in January 2016, and a short time later – on 31 March 2016 – Hans-Werner Sinn’s presidency of the Ifo Institute came to an end. To mark these occasions, the Ifo Institute, CESifo GmbH, and the Economics Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich jointly organised an international scientific symposium entitled: "Public Policy" that was held on Friday, 22 January 2016.

Friday, 22 January 2016
Große Aula, University of Munich

The symposium was followed by an official ceremony (in German).

Academic Co-ordinators

Robin Boadway, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Queen’s University
Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Ifo Institute

Carsten Eckel, Professor of Trade and Trade Policy
Dean of the Economics Faculty of the University of Munich

Publications

„Retirement of Hans-Werner Sinn“, Ludger Woesmann, Wolfgang Schäuble, Jens Weidmann, Edmund Phelps, James Poterba, Assaf Razin, Harold James, Peter Diamond, David E. Wildasin, Wolfgang Wiegard, Gabriel Felbermayr, Wilhelm Kohler, Rick van der Ploeg, Nicholas Stern, Clemens Fuest, et al., CESifo Forum 17, May 2016, special issue
(summary of the event and speeches, in English)

"Fare Thee Well, Hans-Werner Sinn", CESifo Newsletter, January 2016.

Hans-Werner Sinn und 25 Jahre deutsche Wirtschaftspolitik, Hanser: München, January 2016, 281 pages.

„Symposium und Festakt zur Verabschiedung von Professor Hans-Werner Sinn und zum 25. Jahrestag der Gründung des Center for Economic Studies am 22. Januar 2016“, ifo Schnelldienst 69 (09), 2016, pp. 3-49.
(summary of the event and speeches, in German)

Documentation

Programme

8.45 a.m.   Opening Words

Robin Boadway (Academic Co-ordinator), Professor Emeritus of Economics, Queen’s University, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Ifo Institute

Carsten Eckel (Academic Co-ordinator), Professor of Trade and Trade Policy, Dean of the Economics Faculty of the University of Munich

Words of Welcome

Bernd Huber, President of the University of Munich
Assaf Razin, Professor of International Economics, Cornell University,
former Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Ifo Institute
Robert Haveman, Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, former Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Ifo Institute
Rick van der Ploeg, Professor of Economics, University of Oxford, Director of Public Sector Economics Area of CESifo research network

9.15 a.m. Scientific Laudation in Honour of Hans-Werner Sinn

Kai A. Konrad, Managing Director at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance and Honorary Professor, University of Munich

9.30 a.m. Speech

Not Against the Laws of Economics – Hans Werner Sinn as a Public Intellectual, Jens Weidmann, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank

9.50 a.m. Panel 1: The European Monetary Union: Deficits and Cures

Henning Bohn, Professor of Economics, University of California at Santa Barbara
Otmar Issing, Professor and President of Center for Financial Studies, University of Frankfurt
Frank Westermann, Professor of Economics, Osnabrueck University
Harold James (Panel Chair), Professor of History and International Affairs, Princeton University

10.45 a.m. Coffee Break 

11.15 a.m. Panel 2: Free Trade with Whom? WTO, TTIP, Doha & Co

Avinash K. Dixit, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Princeton University 
Sascha O. Becker, Professor of Economics, University of Warwick 
Peter H. Egger, Professor of Economics, ETH Zurich
James R. Markusen (Panel Chair), Professor of International Economics, University of Colorado at Boulder

12.10 p.m. Lunch Break 

1.10 p.m. Panel 3: Microeconomic Lessons for Public Policy

Sir Partha Dasgupta, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Cambridge 
Philippe Aghion, Professor of Economics, Collège de France and London School of Economics
Xavier Vives, Professor of Economics and Finance, IESE Business School 
Oliver Hart (Panel Chair), Andrew E. Furer Professor of Economics, Harvard University

2.10 p.m. Panel 4: Public Finance and Public Debt: Current Challenges

Joel B. Slemrod, Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan 
Barbara Wolfe, Professor of Economics, Population Health Sciences, and Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison 
Vito Tanzi, former IMF Director and former Professor of Economics, American University 
Alan J. Auerbach, Robert D. Burch Professor of Economics and Law, University of California, Berkeley 
Michael P. Devereux (Panel Chair), Professor of Business Taxation, University of Oxford

3.30 p.m. End of Scientific Symposium