BTU doctoral student Julia Fischer wins the Ludwig Erhard Prize 2024

This prestigious prize, endowed with 5,000 euros, recognises excellent research that offers practical and innovative solutions to socially relevant challenges.

Dr Julia Fischer's dissertation entitled "The debt brake and the quality of its implementation in the federal states - a legal-economic analysis" examines the effectiveness of the debt brake in the German federal states. Her focus is on the question of whether the debt brake, as enshrined in the state laws, makes a sustainable contribution to limiting public debt. Through a detailed analysis of the state-specific legal texts, Dr Fischer identifies weaknesses in the legal implementation and derives specific recommendations for action for policymakers.

Dr Julia Fischer explains: "In the spirit of Ludwig Erhard, the work appeals to the integrity of political decision-makers to act in the best interests of the country, as Ludwig Erhard said, the day will come when the citizen will have to learn that he has to pay the debts that the state incurs and declares for our benefit."

Dr Fischer's work is characterised by its interdisciplinary approach, which combines legal and economic perspectives. Her research offers valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of the debt brake as a fiscal policy instrument and thus contributes to the design of a future-proof and sustainable fiscal policy. The dissertation was supervised by Prof. Dr Gunther Markwardt and Prof. Dr Jan Schnellenbach (Chair of Economics, in particular Microeconomics).

Background

The Ludwig Erhard Prize, which is awarded annually by the Ludwig Erhard Initiative Group in Fürth, honours dissertations that fund innovative, practice-relevant and socially significant research. Dr Julia Fischer was able to assert herself in a strong field of applications and impressed the jury in particular with the relevance and depth of her analysis as well as the clear political implications of her results.

The award ceremony took place in the Fürth Municipal Theatre and was attended by around 500 guests. Prof. Dr Dr h. c. Clemens Fuest, President of the ifo Institute, gave the keynote speech, speaking about the importance of the social market economy in times of global challenges. In addition to the 1st prize winner Dr Julia Fischer, two other academics, Dr Lea Mayer (Diversity in Organisations: Essays in Applied Economics Based on Experimental and Administrative Data) and Dr Annalisa Tassi (Essays on Empirical Finance) were nominated by the jury.