Munich, 1 February 2016 – An era draws to a close with Hans-Werner Sinn’s term-of-office as Professor at the University of Munich and President of the Ifo Institute ending on 31 March 2016. For over a quarter of a century – including 17 years as Ifo President – Hans-Werner Sinn was Germany’s most well-known economist. His fellow economists unanimously describe him as the most influential voice of academia in the national economic policy debate. To mark his retirement, Gabriel Felbermayr, Meinhard Knoche and Ludger Wößmann published the book: “Hans-Werner Sinn und 25 Jahre deutsche Wirtschaftspolitik (Hans-Werner Sinn and 25 Years of German Economic Policy)” (Hanser Verlag 2016), which is on sale to the public as of today.
The book features contributions by distinguished contemporaries of Hans-Werner Sinn, who came into direct contact with his economic policy activities in their professional and social roles, notably in business, politics, academia and the media. The contributors examine individual aspects of Hans-Werner Sinn’s work from their own highly individual viewpoint. The resulting work is a mosaic of 111 contributions that offers a fascinating overview of both a personal career and an economic era. This also makes the book a tour d’horizon of the major contentious issues that have marked the economic policy debate over the last 25 years.