Berlin The discipline of economics in Germany has two problems. The scene is still a male domain to this day. Teaching and research assignments given to women are rare. And from the ranks of economists, isolated individuals drift to the politically extreme fringes.
The proportion of female economics professors is only around a fifth. In the FAZ economists ranking, there are only four women among the 100 economists most cited in the media.
The problem with extreme positions has been preoccupying the experts since the AfD was founded, in which economists were once involved. And there is currently trouble in view of the corona pandemic. The Hanoverian economics professor Stefan Homburg is close to the Corona lateral thinker scene.
On Twitter, Homburg last called the corona pathogen a “run-of-the-mill virus” that “is not dangerous at all”. He describes mouth and nose protection as “slave masks with which the population should be kept mentally down”.
These problems have been bothering the German economy for some time. The image of the department suffers as a result – and exacerbates the existing problems with young talent. Germany is internationally recognized and known for its economic scene. But that reputation is at stake.
Harassment and disadvantage are prohibited
The board of the leading economists’ association, the Verein für Socialpolitik (VfS), does not want to accept this any further. Founded in 1873, the VfS currently brings together 4,000 economists and institutional partners such as the Bundesbank, the Federal Finance Ministry, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor, as well as all major economic institutes.
A working group has given the association’s existing code of ethics a new chapter. But a heated argument has broken out over this.
So far, the code has dealt exclusively with content requirements for scientific work. There is now a new section on “professional practice”. It stipulates, among other things, that members of the VfS undertake not to harass anybody, not to create a “hostile environment” or not to disadvantage others.
The association wants to differentiate itself from loud, anti-democratic economists. And women should be relieved of their fear of bad manners. Time and again we hear that women economists avoid a career in science because they fear being exploited or not taken seriously by their male colleagues.
“With the new code of ethics, we are committed to an inclusive and objective-professional environment that will also be increasingly attractive for female economists,” says VfS chairman Georg Weizsäcker.
General assembly approves new code
The new code of ethics had already been heatedly debated in advance. On Wednesday the general meeting of the association dealt with the topic. The code was discussed for around four hours instead of the scheduled two hours. The wording has been adapted several times.
“The exchange of science and ideas must take place freely and without discrimination – for everyone involved, and especially for women,” says the chairman of the Verein für Socialpolitik.
(Photo: DIW)
In the end, only around 60 club members took part in the vote, as groups of participants report. They decided on the new code, which is available to the Handelsblatt.
But the critics consider the decision to be fatal. Because the new passages are still kept very open even after they have been amended, they fear that the code could be misused in the future.
Does it represent a devaluation of demographic groups if a research project comes to the result that East German employees are on average still more unproductive than West German ones, as the Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH) found some time ago?
Or had the Düsseldorf professor Justus Haucap created a “hostile environment” when he dubbed the economist Achim Truger as a “scientific lightweight” when he was appointed to the Advisory Council?
“Controlling the Freedom of Science”
Michael Hüther, for example, director of the Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft (IW), fears that academic freedom will be tamed if supposed majority opinions narrow the space for divergent positions.
“The considerable expansion of the scope of the code of ethics opens the door to restrict the freedom of science and expression,” rumbles Xenia Matschke, professor at the University of Trier.
The VfS board cannot understand this blanket criticism. “We were able to agree on a formulation that supports, not hampers, free exchange,” says Weizsäcker, chairman of the association. But the critics do not consider the VfS to be the institution that has to prescribe these things. “The club misjudges its role,” says IW boss Hüther.
A rapprochement between the camps remains a long way off. It doesn’t help that the new code of ethics is likely to be nothing more than a voluntary commitment. Some members quietly report that they plan to leave the association based on the decision on the code of ethics.
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