Geopolitical tensions, increasing competition on global markets and a lack of capacity for reform and innovation pose particular challenges for an open economy such as Germany’s. New ideas and concepts are needed to tackle these challenges whilst at the same time strengthening the benefits of the social market economy. When seeking approaches to economic policy reform, the key lies in the intersection of empirical research and evidence-based policy advice. Hardly anyone in Germany is as well versed in these areas as Christoph M. Schmidt, a self-confessed ‘numbers person’. For a whole year, he has enriched and supported the work of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, encouraging it to adopt innovative strategies and approaches.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Christoph M. Schmidt has been President of the Leibniz Association since July 2026 and also holds the Chair of Economic Policy and Applied Econometrics at the Faculty of Economics at Ruhr University Bochum. During his time as a KAS Fellow 2025, he was President of the RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research in Essen. He has also served and continues to serve on numerous committees: amongst other roles, he was a member of the German Council of Economic Experts from 2009 to 2020, serving as its Chair from 2013 to 2020. From 2024 to 2026, he was a member of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI). In his work, which has received multiple awards, Christoph M. Schmidt focuses in particular on issues relating to energy, health and labour market economics, and is actively involved at the interface between research and evidence-based policy advice. This report documents the extraordinarily varied and exciting year spent with Christoph M. Schmidt as a KAS Fellow 2025. It demonstrates the extent to which economics can contribute to key social and political issues – for example, by formulating evidence-based solutions in the fields of labour market, health and energy policy. However, it also demonstrates that economics is relevant to political education in other respects too: economic perspectives portray human beings as social beings, highlight the need for compromise and emphasise the role of trust and reliability in politics.
Read the entire publication about the KAS Fellow Ship 2025 here.
Please note, to date the report is only available in German.
