Research

Research Priorities: Competition policy, innovation policy, multinational corporations

Monika Schnitzer is a German economist. Her research priorities comprise competition policy, innovation, and multinational corporations.

The relationship between competition and innovation lies at the heart of Monika Schnitzer’s current research, particularly the question as to what role antitrust measures and regulations can play in increasing innovation. To this end, she has used microdata in a series of papers to study the effects of the antitrust cases against AT&T in the 1950s and 1980s, which resulted first in the forced licensing of patents and then in a division of the corporation.

Another series of papers focuses on the role of the scientific system when it comes to innovation and the effects of globalisation on specific innovation hotspots.

In other papers, she has used tax cuts and tax increases in the German fuel market to illustrate and analyse the relationship between competition and market transparency as they relate to the effectiveness of tax measures.

During her tenure as the President Elect of the Verein für Socialpolitik (German Economic Association), she was dedicated to promoting evidence-based economic policy.

Monika Schnitzer has applied her scientific expertise in a variety of committees and is currently using her experience in the German Council of Economic Experts, of which she became president in 2022. Monika Schnitzer is the first woman to hold the presidency of the Council of Experts.

Career

• 2017, 2013 Visiting Professor, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
• 2009 Visiting Professor, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• 2004 Visiting Professor, Yale University, New Haven, USA
• 2000 Visiting Professor, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
• since 1996 Full Professor, Department of Comparative Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München, Munich, Germany
• 1995-1996 Substitute Professor, LMU München, Munich, Germany
• 1995 Habilitation, Faculty of Law and Economics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
• 1992 Visiting Scholar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Visiting Lecturer Boston University, Boston, USA
• 1991-1996 Research Associate, Department of Economics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
• 1991 Doctorate, European Doctoral Program, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
• 1988-1989 Year abroad, London School of Economics, London, UK
• 1986-1991 Research Associate, Government Studies Seminar, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
• 1986 Master of Economics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Functions

• since 2022 President, German Council of Economic Experts, Federal Republic of Germany
• since 2020 Member, German Council of Economic Experts, Federal Republic of Germany
• since 2021 Chairperson, Council of Experts for the Transformation of the Automotive Industry, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Germany
• since 2020 Member, Economic Advisory Group for Competition Policy, European Commission
• 2020-2021 Member, Committee of Experts for the Future Fund of the Automotive Industry, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Germany
• 2018-2019 Member, Commission on Antitrust Law “Wettbewerbsrecht 4.” for the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, Germany
• 2014-2015 Member, Expert Commission “Strengthening Investments in Germany”, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Germany
• 2015-2016 President, Verein für Socialpolitik (German Economic Association – VfS), Berlin, Germany
• 2013-2014 President Elect, VfS, Berlin, Germany
• 2011-2019 Deputy Chairperson, Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation for the German Federal Government, Federal Republic of Germany
• 2007-2020 Chairperson, Research Council, LMU München, Munich, Germany
• 2005-2007 Executive Board, European Economic Association
• 2004-2006 Member, Economic Advisory Group on Competition Policy, European Commission
• 2003-2007 Council Member, European Economic Association
• since 2001 Member, Board of Academic Advisors, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Germany
• 1998-2006 Associate Editor, Journal of Industrial Economics, German Economic Review and of CESifo Studies

Projects

• since 2017 Subproject “Firm Size, Ownership, and Innovation”, TRR 190, German Research Foundation (DFG), Germany
• 2012-2016 Subproject “Market Structure in Banking and Macroeconomic Stability”, Priority Programme (SPP) 1578, DFG, Germany
• 2004-2015 Subproject “Globalisation, Corporate Organisation and Endogenous Market Structure”, TRR 15, DFG, Germany
• 2004-2008 Project “Multinational Banks and the Development of the Financial Sector in Eastern Europe", DFG, Germany
• 1999-2002 Project “Corporate Finance and Corporate Control in Transition Economies: the Role of Competition in the Banking Sector and in Product Markets”, DFG, Germany
• 1998-2006 Project “German Direct Investments in Eastern Europe: Theory and Evidence”, DFG, Germany

Honours and Memberships

• since 2022 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• 2022 Honorary Doctorate, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
• 2022 Medal of Honour “Europa-Medaille für besondere Verdienste um Bayern in einem Vereinten Europa”, Free State of Bavaria, Bavaria, Germany
• 2022 Gustav Stolper Award, VfS, Berlin, Germany
• 2021 Best Paper Award, American Economic Journal
• since 2020 Honorary Member, Best Paper Award
• since 2016 Member, Academia Europaea
• 2012 Order of Merit of Bavaria, Germany
• 2011 Teaching Award of the Bavarian Government, Germany
• since 2008 Member, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Munich, Germany
• since 2008 Fellow, European Economic Association
• 2005 Order of Merit, Federal Republic of Germany
• since 1996 Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, UK
• 1996 Academy Award, North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, Düsseldorf, Germany
• 1992 Research Scholarship, German Research Foundation´, Germany
• 1988-1989 Exchange Scholarship, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Germany
• 1984-1986 Scholarship Student, German Academic Scholarship Foundation, Germany