Research Paper 10: Economists are perceived in camps

Political economists are often assigned to political-ideological camps. A recent study by Wolfgang Schwarzbauer and Tobias Thomas from EcoAustria, together with Gert G. Wagner from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, shows that there are two major clusters of economists in Germany that can be considered influential.

To this end, the authors analyzed a survey of German politicians and ministry officials from 2014 to 2018. This is carried out annually as part of the FAZ economist ranking. Each respondent was able to name up to five economists and up to five other scientists whom they value most for their work. The cluster with the greatest influence is made up of the current and former presidents of the ifo Institute in Munich, Clemens Fuest and Hans-Werner Sinn. Other members of this cluster are Lars P. Feld, Michael Hüther and Christoph M. Schmidt. The second most influential camp is led by Marcel Fratzscher, President of DIW Berlin. Other economists in this cluster are Peter Bofinger, Gustav A. Horn, Claudia Kemfert and Heiner Flassbeck.

The most important non-economic disciplines associated with the economist clusters are also revealing: with regard to the "Fuest" cluster, these are law, political science and history in terms of importance. The "Fratzscher" cluster is primarily associated with political science and sociology. Looking at the academics within the non-economic disciplines, there are also clear and distinct differences here. Almost no scientist is named with both economist camps.

It must be borne in mind that the results only indicate how the scientists mentioned are perceived by ministry officials and parliamentarians and not how they would categorize themselves. The results of the study were recently published in Wirtschaftsdienst 4/2019 and as EcoAustria Research Paper 10.