Joseph Stiglitz & Lars Feld Discuss the New Presidency, COVID, and Transatlantic Relations

On Tuesday, January 12th, Carl-Schurz-Haus Freiburg in cooperation with the network of the Deutsch-Amerikanische Institute across Germany hosted a conversation between economists Joseph Stiglitz and Lars Feld.

Prof. Lars P. Feld is chair of economics at the University of Freiburg and CEO of the Walter Eucken Institute.

Prof. Joseph E. Stiglitz is the 2001 nobel laureate of economy and former chair of the “Council of Economic Advisors” during the administration of former president Bill Clinton.

At the beginning, both participants were asked to comment on the current state of political and economic affairs. Stiglitz, who sees the beginning of this year as “light at the end of the tunnel”, named the surge of Covid-19 as one of the biggest challenges. The undermining of democratic institutions and the Capitol riots are both “unheard of”. Nevertheless, he is confident to see a peaceful transition of power with the Biden Inauguration which for him signals a “return to decency”.

Feld then highlighted the differences between some of the EU countries. In Germany, for example, due to a much less severe shutdown as compared to the one from spring 2020, the industry would be performing well. Stiglitz mentioned the social responsibility of cooperations: to counter a surging unemployment rate due to the pandemic paid sick leave had been introduced in the US. However, companies lobbying to be exempt from this rule led to surge in Covid-19 numbers, as the virus was able to spread even more quickly.

Both participants discussed the implementation of changes with the Biden administration. They were confident this would allow for “building bridges” and a stronger commitment to democracy, with increased concentration on topics such as climate change and international trade.

Thank you to our participants and our cooperation partners: Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Tübingen, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum Stuttgart, Amerikahaus München, Amerikahaus NRW, Atlantische Akademie Rheinland-Pfalz, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Saarland and the US Embassy in Berlin.

You can revisit the conversation here.