Former head of Wirtschaftsweisen, Lars Feld, expresses support for Ulrike Malmendier, who is reportedly leaving the Expert Council for the Assessment of the Macro‑Economic Development after facing opposition from the CDU.
“I would say Ulrike Malmendier is an excellent scientist” Feld told the Handelsblatt (Wednesday issue). He added that she cannot be assigned to any political camp. If her departure is simply politically motivated, he believes that is wrong.
Feld dismisses the CDU argument that she is not sufficiently oriented toward order‑economic policy. “The Expert Council is not intended to be particularly ordoliberal, Keynesian, or monetarist” he said.
However, Feld thinks the exit has more than political reasons. According to him, the decision is also driven by the council’s weakness in macroeconomics and international economic relations. “They apparently want to change that” he explained. “Ulrike Malmendier merely has the misfortune of being the first person on whom they can act to bring about change”. Feld himself had apparently had to leave the council in 2021 under pressure from the SPD.
