The Federal Constitutional Court's ruling on the debt brake has sparked much debate in
Germany. At a time of recession and multiple crises, the highest court has made a decision
that appears to force the federal government to make savings. Since then, there have been
many debates revolving around the debt brake in Germany at the same time: Where can the
state make savings? Should the government do so at all? Is the debt brake still appropriate
or did it ever make sense?

In a lecture series on the topic "Debt brake - brake on the future? Economic policy between
climate crisis, war and inflation", we want to explore these questions and dig deeper: What is
debt anyway? What rules does fiscal policy need to be intergenerationally just? And what
influence does monetary policy have?

To examine these questions, we want to present various academic approaches, adopt
interdisciplinary perspectives and offer practical insights in order to shed light on as many
aspects of sovereign debt as possible: Starting from the real-political effects of the debt
brake, we first want to take a historical perspective - how did budgetary policy influence the
global economic crisis almost 100 years ago, for example, and how has the view of
government debt changed since then?

Then we will take a broader view: What role does sovereign debt play in international
relations - especially within the European Union? And finally, we want to focus on the future:
How could the debt brake, for example, be reformed? How should fiscal policy be shaped in
view of the climate crisis and wars in the 21st century? And what are the new perspectives
on public debt and monetary policy in the face of high inflation?

On the one hand, the lecture series is intended to be a platform for the exchange of ideas
and space for discussion based on scientific findings. We see it as our particular task to
bring in pluralistic perspectives and different academic disciplines in order to enable students
to gain comprehensive knowledge on the complex topic of "sovereign debt".

At the same time, we want to use the lecture series to make the topic of "sovereign debt"
accessible to a wider audience - after all, it is ultimately a political issue that affects us all
and universities in particular. Last but not least, the lecture series is intended to provide an
opportunity to bring pluralistic and interdisciplinary approaches as well as current topics
more into the focus of teaching at the University of Tübingen.
 

The lecture series will comprise a total of 11 lectures held in German in which selected
speakers will present various aspects of the economic challenges associated with fiscal and
monetary policy in the face of multiple crises to students.

The lectures take place on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. c.t. in HS 23 in the Kupferbau.
The complete program can be found on Ilias.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The Rethinking Economics Team in cooperation with the Tübingen Forum for Science and
Humanities.

The Rethinking Economics team is responsible for the content of this page.