Humboldt Fellow Researches Defence Expenditure at ZEW
PersonnelPolitical Economy Expert at ZEW until the End of the Year
Humboldt Fellow Łukasz Olejnik, PhD has been conducting research at ZEW Mannheim since July 2023 as a visiting scholar in the ZEW Research Unit “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance” and will stay until the end of the year. The expert in political economy and fiscal policy hails from the SGH Warsaw School of Economics and the National Bank of Poland. His research stay at ZEW is funded by the Humboldt Research Fellowship for postdocs.
He has conducted research in political economics, fiscal policy and public finance. His research areas include political budget cycles, voters’ decisions, fiscal sustainability, as well as peace and defence economics, with his work in Mannheim focusing on the topic of defence spending. His fellowship project examines possible internal and external factors influencing the level of military spending in EU and NATO countries over the last decades.
International networking brings great opportunity
“I wanted to go to ZEW because it is one of the most renowned economic research institutes in Europe. Over the next six months, my primary objective is to produce top-notch papers and share the results with other researchers all over Europe,” says Olejnik, outlining his goals for the fellowship. “I especially like ZEW’s atmosphere and the culture of openness throughout the whole institute.”
The ZEW team is happy to host Olejnik, recognising it as a valuable occasion to establish international connections: “Expenditure on resources that affect all of Europe such as defence is a significant research topic for us. Here in particular, it is important that we network even more with up-and-coming young researchers from Eastern Europe,” emphasises Professor Friedrich Heinemann, head of ZEW’s “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance” Unit. “We have a great young researcher in Łukasz Olejnik, who is bringing fresh momentum to the fields of peace and defence economics.”
About the Humboldt Research Fellowship
The Humboldt Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung supports outstanding foreign researchers as they conduct research projects in Germany. Projects from any area of study can be funded from six to 24 months. Scholars must have independently sought out their host research institutions beforehand.
