Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Freiburg
Lars P. Feld, born in Saarbrücken in 1966, has held the Chair of Economic Policy and Regulatory Economics at the University of Freiburg since 2010 and is Director of the Walter Eucken Institute. He has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at the Federal Ministry of Finance since 2003. In 2007, he was appointed as an expert for the Commission for the Modernisation of Federal-State Financial Relations and acted as an advisor on the German debt brake. In January 2020, he was appointed as a scientific member of the Minimum Wage Commission. From 2011 to 2021, he was a member and, in the final year, chairman of the German Council of Economic Experts, representing it on the Independent Advisory Board of the Stability Council from 2013 to 2021. From 2022 to 2024, Feld was the Federal Minister of Finance's representative for macroeconomic development.
In November 2017, Lars P. Feld received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lucerne. He is the award winner of the Gustav Stolper Prize 2021, by the Verein für Socialpolitik, which is considered the most important award for economists in German-speaking countries. In 2023, Lars P. Feld was awarded the University Medal of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and the Friedrich List Medal of the Federal Association of German Economists and Business Economists (bdvb).
Photo: © Walter Eucken Institut
Thursday, 23. April 2026, 18:30 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOL-G-201 (Aula)
With the German government's new debt offensive, Germany is at a turning point in its fiscal policy. Lars P. Feld discusses why debt policy is so tempting, what risks it entails and what alternatives there are.
Our guest offers historical context and illustrative examples from Germany, Europe and other parts of the world. Politics and society must take responsibility to secure prosperity and the ability to act for future generations.
Tuesday, 09. April 2019, 18:30 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOL-G-201 (Aula)
The word ‘crisis’, particularly the economic kind, is bandied around so much that it has lost its power. Structural changes are at the centre of progress towards something better. Just as little as doctors are drawn to the naive hope that patients might come out of an illness stronger than before can economists view crises as structural changes that strengthen the economy. However, economists’ prognoses regarding the triggers, the date, the duration and the characteristics of future crises suffer from these not occurring regularly enough. This has methodical implications and also impels us towards modesty. Yet: What’s going on in the economy? Are we already experiencing the next crisis?