Wolfgang Stützel

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Wolfgang Stützel (born January 23, 1925 in Aalen , † March 1, 1987 in Saarbrücken ) was a German economist and professor of economics at the University of Saarland . From 1966 to 1968 he was a member of the Expert Council for the assessment of macroeconomic developments . He coined the term economic balance mechanics .

Life

Stützel comes from Aalen in Baden-Württemberg, where his father Hermann Stützel, a doctor of chemistry, also worked as a master decipherer in times of war and peace, ran a small pottery factory. His mother Frieda, b. Hennig, came from Wittenberg. He had three older siblings, one brother and two sisters, and with his musical talent he made Elly Ney's pupil at the Salzburg Mozarteum in 1943 . Stützel became a member of the NSDAP in 1943 (membership number: 9,401,614). However, under the influence of the theologian Helmut Thielicke , he turned away from National Socialism in the last years of the war. After the war he began to study Protestant theology and ancient languages ​​in Tübingen, because in 1945 only the theological faculties were still working.

It was not until the summer of 1947 that he was able to study economics, in 1950 he received his diploma and his doctorate in 1952 with a thesis entitled “Price, Value, Power. Analytical theory of the relationship between the economy and the state ”(only published in 1972 by Scientia Verlag Aalen). After two years as assistant to Carl Brinkmann in Tübingen, he received a research grant for the London School of Economics and worked from 1953 to 1956 as deputy head of the economics department of the Berliner Bank and from 1957 to 1958 first as a research assistant, finally as department head for publications and special tasks at the Bundesbank . In 1953 he completed his first habilitation thesis, which was only published in 1979 under the title "Paradoxa of Money and Competitive Economy" at Scientia Verlag Aalen.

Stützel officially completed his habilitation in 1958 on the balance mechanics of macroeconomic relationships , a further developed excerpt from his habilitation thesis from 1953, at the Faculty of Law and Economics at the University of Tübingen. The withdrawn first habilitation thesis was too extensive and too mathematical for the law and economics faculty of the University of Tübingen. At the age of almost 33, he was immediately appointed full professor to Saarbrücken , supported by Herbert Giersch , where he concentrated on banking and economics with a focus on money, currency and credit. Starting in September 1959, he and his students expanded their knowledge of the loss compensation function of bank operating equity into the theory of maximum stress . Since February 1966, Stützel was a member of the Advisory Council for the Assessment of Macroeconomic Development and resigned in September 1968 because he did not want to represent a revaluation of the DM and he was prevented from expressing his dissenting opinion in a minority vote. In the 1970s he was involved at various levels with the FDP (city councilor, state executive, candidate for the Bundestag, member of various federal party committees). The “Saarbrücken statement on two central issues of liberal economic and social policy” is considered to be the forerunner of the Lambsdorff paper . He taught as a full professor at Saarland University for almost 30 years and turned down several offers at other universities.

In 1986 he suffered a stroke from the consequences of which he did not recover. He then decided to commit suicide in 1987 . He left three grown children. His estate is in the archive of the Saarland University.

Awards

Memberships

  • 1958–1987: Professor at the Faculty of Economics at Saarland University
  • 1966–1968: Council of experts to assess macroeconomic development
  • 1982–1987: Kronberger Kreis
  • 1981–1985: Advisory Board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation

Economic policy positions

As the editor of Wilhelm Lautenbach's writings , Wolfgang Stützel represented Keynesian ideas in his early years and, with the economic balance mechanics that he worked out and introduced into the economic discussion, founded a critical approach to the prevailing teaching in economics .

In the 1970s, Stützel moved more and more away from the Keynesian and demand-oriented positions. After the 1973/74 recession caused by the high interest rate policy, there was high unemployment and Stützel wanted to see this as a more structural problem than a cyclical one and pleaded for cuts in the social sector and the dismantling of dismissal protection. In his book Market Price and Human Dignity (1981) he argued for a restructuring of the welfare state in accordance with the ideas of economic liberalism in the Kronberger Kreis . In the book he explains his thesis that a “good social intention” can often have “bad social consequences” - stronger dismissal protection or excessive tariffs keep employers from employing people at all. The employer’s obligation to continue paying wages in the event of illness reduces the chances of employing sick people. He advocated a “market economy with social policy conforming to the system”, in which the state has the task of providing equal opportunities and providing help to the weaker, but in which the market economy is interfered with as little as possible by regulations. As early as the 1960s, he challenged the belief that a healthy economy needs constant economic growth .

One of his best-known students, Peter Bofinger , paid tribute to him as follows: “Stützel was an uncompromising advocate of market economy principles without belonging to a school. Many of his scientific findings met resistance at first, but then prevailed in economic policy because they were based on a clear regulatory foundation that Stützel developed with great consistency. His foresight and his readiness to contradict the scientific discussion and stimulate the shaping of the economic order in the Federal Republic of Germany. "

Monetary and currency policy

As a member of the Advisory Council, Wolfgang Stützel rejected the revaluation of the DM in 1968. The recession of 1967, triggered by the Bundesbank's high interest rate policy, had significantly reduced inflation in Germany and thus brought German exports a cost advantage. As a committed opponent of the revaluation - he had already opposed the revaluation of the DM in 1961 - Stützel left this body in a conflict with the majority of the Expert Council in September 1968.

Students and staff

  • Michael Bitz completed his habilitation in 1976 with Wolfgang Stützel and wrote the book "Exercises in Economics" with him and Wolfgang Cezanne
  • Hans-Jacob Krümmel came to Saarbrücken University in 1959, where he wrote his habilitation thesis “Bank interest rates - investigations into the pricing policy of universal banks” in 1964 under Stützel .
  • Peter Bofinger was a research assistant from 1976–78 and a research assistant at Wolfgang Stützel's chair from 1981–85.
  • In 1975/76 Heiner Flassbeck was assistant at the chair of Stützel with a focus on currency issues.
  • Wolfram Engels completed his habilitation in 1968 with Wolfgang Stützel in Saarbrücken.
  • Otmar Issing heard Stützel on regulatory policy and the long-term effects of economic policy instruments.
  • Wolfgang Cezanne received his doctorate in 1972 under Wolfgang Stützel and wrote the book "Exercises in VWL" together with Stützel
  • Hartmut Schmidt did his doctorate in 1969 with Wolfgang Stützel.

Works

  • as editor: Wilhelm Lautenbach : interest, credit and production. Mohr (Siebeck), Tübingen 1952 ( PDF 1.5 MB).
  • Price, value and power. Scientia, Aalen 1972, ISBN 3-511-00668-6 . (Unchanged. New Dr. of the Tübingen dissertation 1952)
  • Economic balance mechanics. Mohr, Tübingen 1978, ISBN 3-16-150955-2 . (Reprint of the 2nd edition, 2011, Mohr Siebeck)
  • Paradoxes of the money and competitive economy. Scientia, Aalen 1979, ISBN 3-511-09029-6 .
  • Market price and human dignity. Theses on economic and educational policy. Bonn Aktuell, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-87959-161-X .
  • About our currency relations. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1983, ISBN 3-16-344632-9 .
  • Banking policy - today and tomorrow. Knapp, Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-7819-0292-7 . (3rd unchanged edition / with foreword and afterword by the author / 1st edition 1964).
  • Hartmut Schmidt / Eberhart Ketzel / Stefan Prigge (eds.): Wolfgang Stützel - Modern concepts for financial markets, employment and economic constitution. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2001, ISBN 3-16-147614-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolfgang Stützel: Modern Concepts for Financial Markets, Employment and Economic Constitution. Tübingen 2001, foreword V ( google books ).
  2. ^ Peter Mantel: Business Administration and National Socialism: An Institutional and Personal History Study. Gabler, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-8349-8515-6 , p. 844.
  3. ↑ Helmut Thielicke: A guest on a beautiful star. Hoffman & Campe, Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-455-08232-7 , p. 176.
  4. ↑ The ex-sage from the Saarland. In: The time . April 11, 1969. (zeit.de)
  5. ↑ Published 1958 as Economical Balance Mechanics - A Contribution to Monetary Theory .
  6. ^ Wagner, Adolf (2003): Review of Wolfgang Stützel, Modern Concepts for Financial Markets, Employment and Economic Constitution, edited by Hartmut Schmidt, Eberhard Ketzel, Stefan Prigge. Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2001, in: Year books for national economy and statistics, 223rd vol., Vol. 2003, issue 3, pp. 382–383.
  7. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, December 5, 1968, p. 13
  8. ^ Economy / Expert Council: Chaste Nature. In: Der Spiegel . September 30, 1968. (spiegel.de)
  9. ↑ D-Mark, D-Mark about everything? By Wolfgang Stützel In: The time. October 10, 1969. (zeit.de)
  10. ^ FDP Saar (1977): Saarbrücken statement on two central issues of liberal economic and social policy, resolution of the state party conference of October 2, 1977, Saarbrücken.
  11. ↑ Feld, Lars P. (2013): On the importance of the manifesto of the market economy or: The Lambsdorff paper in the 31st year, Freiburg discussion papers on the economics of order, No. 13/9, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Institute for General Economic Research, Department for Economic Policy, Freiburg i. Br. Https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/88112/1/772166285.pdf
  12. ↑ uni-saarland.de
  13. ↑ gso.gbv.de: Presentation of the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism 1978 (accessed on May 21, 2015).
  14. ↑ Heiner Flassbeck: Macroeconomic Paradoxes and Modern Economic Policy (PDF, 15 p .; 143 kB), introduction, p. 1.
  15. ^ Peter Bofinger: Wolfgang Stützel
  16. ^ Wolfgang Stützel: Market price and human dignity. Theses on economic and educational policy. Stuttgart 1981, p. 37: “By advocating a market economy with a social policy that conforms to the system, I am not advocating the dismantling ... of the system of social services, but rather its restructuring, namely a restructuring in a direction which, after all the bad experiences of the last decades presented, amounts to the fact that what is socially strived for can actually be achieved and maintained with less waste of economic resources. "
  17. ↑ Johannes Welcker : Obituary for Wolfgang Stützel. In: Saarbrücker Zeitung. March 4th 1987.
  18. ↑ Website of the city of Aalen: In memory of Wolfgang Stützel - economist and "Wirtschaftsweiser" . 2017.
  19. ↑ D-Mark, D-Mark about everything? By Wolfgang Stützel In: The time. October 10, 1969. (zeit.de)
personal data
SURNAME Stützel, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German economist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Bask
DATE OF DEATH March 1, 1987
Place of death Saarbrücken