Professor Moritz Schularick Awarded the Prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize

Moritz Schularick, Professor of Economics at Sciences Po, was recently awarded the 2022 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, the most prestigious research award in Germany, bestowed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

He is cited in particular for (re)placing economic history at the heart of macroeconomics and for his insights into the causes of financial crises and the historical development of the distribution of wealth. Macroeconomic data tend to ‘lag’ real world events and the research in economics that might support policy-makers is long in coming. Moritz Schularick’s novel historical approach to the financial crisis of 2008, for instance, provided fundamental insight into crisis dynamics that can help anticipate and mitigate future financial crises.

More recently he has been focused on the causes of social inequality and analysing the development of returns on capital. Find out more in our interview with Moritz Schularick about his research, what he would like to do with the Leibniz Prize, and why he joined Sciences Po this Fall:

What sparked your interest in the historical perspective of your research as an economist? How has it defined your work?

I grew up in the 1990s in a newly unified Berlin. The economic transition in Eastern Europe from communism to capitalism was my intellectual starting point for thinking about (macro) economics in a historical dimension. 

I have always been interested in macroeconomics and financial economics in a long-run perspective. 

History can provide a new and innovative perspective on fundamental (economic) questions facing society: how can we ensure financial stability and prevent excessive risk taking in financial markets?  How are rising debt and inequality linked? How does monetary policy affect asset pricing and thus consumption and investment? What is the future of globalisation?

Quantitative macroeconomic models play an important role in answering these questions: they inform policy-makers about the probable consequences of their monetary, fiscal, and macro-prudential policies. But uncertainty is inherent to modelling - incomplete data, too many parameters to include, do not always allow macro and finance models to predict policy outcomes. History has a lot to offer to teach us how things really work and how to improve these policies that have so much influence on the decision-making of households and firms. History can provide more - and better! - data. And history can shed new light on the importance of institutions and culture, even in macroeconomics.

You have just been awarded the Leibniz Prize: is there a research project that you have always wanted to do that is now possible thanks to its endowment?

There is so much to do. I certainly want to think more deeply about the various links between finance and inequality. There are many connections between the two. For instance, let’s think for a moment about the top 10% of the population who have the highest incomes… We know that the wealthiest individuals have the highest savings rates. If the top 10% are likely to earn more income, their savings rates will go up and then the overall savings supply to the financial system will rise. This, in turn, could then push down interest rates.  In this example we can see that the trends in inequality of income and financial outcomes can be tightly linked but these links have not yet been explored.

To chart unexplored territory, I typically bring data together from different sources - central banks, historical statistics, primary sources. PhD students and Research Assistants have played a huge role in this, as have the research grants I have been awarded, initially from the Volkswagen Foundation and more recently from the European Research Council (ERC) for the project SAFEHOUSE. The Leibniz Prize will allow me to pursue these explorations.

In 2015-16 you were Sciences Po’s Alfred Grosser Chair and in 2021, you decided to join the Department of Economics: what new research and teaching opportunities does Sciences Po have to offer you?

Sciences Po has a unique student body. I enjoy the international outlook, the diversity and the intrinsic motivation. The economics department is one of the best in Europe and has a unique spirit of openness to other social sciences in a discipline that can sometimes feel a little hermetic. For my research interests, it is integral that I can talk to historians, political scientists, and sociologists. Sciences Po is the perfect place for this!

The Sciences Po Editorial Team

Find out more

• About the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize
• About the Alfred Grosser Chair
• About Sciences Po's Department of Economics