Hans-Werner Sinn - Education and Career

Education and Career

After studying economics at the University of Münster from 1967 to 1972 and receiving his doctorate from the University of Mannheim in 1978, Sinn was awarded the venia legendi in 1983, also from the University of Mannheim.

Since 1984 Sinn has been full professor in the faculty of economics at the University of Munich (LMU), first holding the chair for economics and insurance, and from 1994 the chair for economics and public finance. During leaves of absence from Mannheim and Munich he held visiting professorships (1978/79 and 1984/85) at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. During sabbaticals he was also visiting researcher at the London School of Economics, as well as at Bergen, Stanford, Princeton and Jerusalem Universities. Since 1988 he has been honorary professor of the University of Vienna, where he has held many lectures. Since February 1, 1999 Sinn has been president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research. In 2006 he became president of the International Institute of Public Finance. From 1997 to 2000 Sinn headed the Verein für Socialpolitik, the association of German-speaking economists.

Sinn is fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the first German-speaking economist to deliver the Yrjö Jahnsson Lectures in Helsinki (1999) and the Tinbergen Lectures in Amsterdam (2004).

In the 2006 Handelsblatt ranking of German economists (Ökonomen-Ranking VWL), based on cross citations of SSCI papers in SSCI journals, Sinn ranked fourth. In a study by Ursprung and Zimmer, based on SSCI citations per author of the full oeuvre, Sinn ranked second of all German economists, after Nobel laureate Reinhard Selten. In the RePEc database he was the German economist most frequently quoted in academic works in 2006. In a survey conducted by the Financial Times Deutschland among more than 550 German economic experts, Sinn was one of the two professors in Germany (the other was Herbert Giersch) to attract a large following of academic pupils, and in terms of political influence he ranked only behind Bert Rürup at the top of the list of German professors. The British newspaper The Independent nominated him as one of the “ten people who changed the world” in 2011.

Sinn has published many journal articles, has written numerous newspaper articles and given many newspaper interviews. In addition he has made longer contributions for radio and television and has made many talk-show appearances. More than twenty articles on his person have been published in German and foreign newspapers. His 2003 book "Ist Deutschland noch zu retten?" has stimulated policy discussion in Germany and influenced the Agenda 2010 reforms. With more than 100,000 copies in print, the book is one of the most popular public policy monograph in recent history. It has also been published in English as "Can Germany be Saved?" by MIT Press in 2007. As a reaction to the criticism of his book in the media, Sinn wrote a follow-up book in 2005, "Die Basarökonomie". His most recent book, "Das grüne Paradoxon", outlines his concept of the Green paradox and was published in October 2008.

Since 1989 Sinn has served on the Advisory Council of the German Ministry of Economics and he represents the Free State of Bavaria on the Board of Supervisors of HypoVereinsbank.

Sinn lives with his wife near Munich. They have three adult children.