Programme

Welcome and Introduction

Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Wolfgang Schön
Prof. Dr. Kai A. Konrad

Reimar Lüst Lecture 2016

 “The Political Economy of Income Distribution”

Professor Timothy J. Besley
CBE, MA, MPhil, DPhil, FBA

Discussion

Final Remarks

Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Reimar Lüst

Reception

Reimar Lüst Lecture

Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Reimar Lüst

The Reimar Lüst Lecture series was founded by the Max Planck Society in 1998 in honour of the achievements of the astrophysicist, science manager and former president of the Max Planck Society. Each year an internationally distinguished academic is invited to hold a lecture at one of the 83 Max Planck Institutes. Reimar Lüst obtained his PhD in Göttingen in May 1951 under Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and received his postdoctoral lecturing qualification for physics at Munich University in 1960. After several research and teaching stays in the USA, Lüst became a Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute of Physics and Astrophysics and, in 1963, a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching. His research achievements at the time laid the foundations for a successful space science in Germany. From 1972 to 1984, Remair Lüst was the President of the Max Planck Society. He subsequently held various positions within science management, including that of the General Director of the European Space Agency (ESA) from 1984 to 1990, and the President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation from 1989 to 1999.

Prof. Timothy J. Besley
CBE, MA, MPhil, DPhil, FBA

Timothy Besley is School Professor of Economics and Political Science and W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). From September 2006 to August 2009, he served as an external member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee and since 2015 has been a member of the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission.

He is a fellow of the Econometric Society, the British Academy, and the European Economic Association. He is also a foreign honorary member of the American Economic Association and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the current President of the International Economic Association and served as the President of the European Economic Association in 2010. In 2018, he will serve as the President of the Econometric Society. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. Professor Besley is a past co-editor of the American Economic Review, and a 2005 winner of the Yrjö Jahnsson Award of the European Economics Association. His research, mostly focusing on policy, is mainly in the areas of Development Economics, Public Economics and Political Economy.

Invitation PDF