ZEW President Franz Celebrates his 60th Birthday

On January 7, 2004, Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Franz, President of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, will celebrate his 60th birthday

Next to his position as scientific head of a renowned economic research institute, he teaches economics at the University of Mannheim and is one of the five members of the German Council of Economic Experts.

Moreover, Franz provides policy advice to important advisory bodies. He is, for example, a member of the academic advisory board of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour as well as of the German Council for Sustainable Development. Furthermore, he is held in high regard as a consultant of the government of the State of Baden-Württemberg. In the field of research, Franz is particularly active as the editor of ZEW Economic Studies, co-publisher of several economic journals and author of technical papers, monographs and one well-respected textbook concerning labour market economics. His work mainly focuses on macroeconomics, research in the labour market and empirical economic research.

One year ago, he received the honorary doctorate by the Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg and the European Business School (ebs) International University Castle Reichartshausen in honour of his exceptional attainments in the fields of research and policy advice. The State of Baden-Württemberg recognised his accomplishments by awarding him the Medal for Merit of the state.

Wolfgang Franz was born 1944 in Nassau/Lahn. He studied economics at the University of Mannheim and obtained a doctor’s degree in 1974 with a thesis on macroeconometric analyses of the German labour market.Professor Franz spent two years as a research fellow at Harvard University and at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), USA. In 1981, Franz habilitated at the University of Mannheim with a dissertation on youth unemployment. He pursued his further academic career as a professor at the University of Mainz and the University of Stuttgart.In 1989 he accepted a chair at the University of Konstanz.

Despite receiving job offers by the ETH Zurich and the Humboldt University of Berlin, Franz stayed in Konstanz for a long time. On April 1, 1997, he became President of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim. He successfully maintained the high scientific reputation of the institute both inland and abroad and turned ZEW into a sought-after interlocutor in the political, economic and administrative world. Under his aegis, the number of employees at ZEW has increased as well as the budget and the amount of external funding. On the outside, the successful work of the past years is reflected in the inclusion of ZEW on the Blue List of the research institutes funded by the federal states and the German government on January 1, 2005, based on a resolution of the Bund-Länder-Commission for Educational Planning and Research Promotion of November 2003.