University of Mannheim: Humboldt Professorship for Economist Prof. Dr. Matthias Doepke
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation grants a maximum of ten Humboldt Professorships per year. One of these will be awarded to the macroeconomist Prof. Dr. Matthias Doepke, as the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation announced today. Doepke is the only economist to receive this award this year. With prize money of 3.5 million euros over five years, this professorship is the most highly endowed German science award. The funding is provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
“We are very pleased that we have accepted a Humboldt Professorship upon our application,” said University Rector Prof. Dr. Thomas Puhl. “This is a sign of recognition of the proven excellence of our economics department and will further strengthen its profile and performance.”
Prof. Volker Nocke, Ph.D., Spokesman for the Department of Economics and holder of the Chair of Microeconomics, adds: “The Department of Economics is very proud and happy that Matthias Doepke has been granted the Humboldt Professorship. Matthias Doepke is a leading global researcher in the fields of macroeconomics and family economics. It is planned that he will set up a worldwide unique research center on the subject of family economics and politics at the University of Mannheim. His appointment would strengthen the Department of Economics and the entire University of Mannheim at the highest academic level. “
The award is intended to help attract top scientists working abroad to work in Germany. Doepke currently teaches at Northwestern University, which is one of the top universities in the world according to the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking.
The researchers who have now been awarded are expected to start their work in the course of the next year. You are now entering into final negotiations with the nominating universities.
To the research of Prof. Dr. Matthias Doepke
Matthias Doepke is considered a pioneer in the field of family economics and is the world’s leading scientist in this field. It highlights family and gender issues as an important subject of macroeconomic research. Because supposedly private family decisions, such as how many children a couple has, influence the economy and, conversely, families are clearly subject to economic constraints in their decisions.
The economic analysis of families is relevant for gender equality issues and role analyzes in our society as well as for developments in emerging and developing countries, where aspects such as the economic and social consequences of child labor are examined. Doepke was able to show a new theoretical connection between inequality and economic growth in a society and explain the role that fertility and educational decisions of families play in this. In other important studies, he examined the incentives men have to share their power with women, and historically demonstrated this with the expansion of women’s rights in England and the United States. He also found out that different parenting styles are influenced by the socio-economic environment and, in turn, have an impact on the well-being and economic success of children. More recently, Doepke has been researching the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on children’s educational opportunities and on gender equality.