Our alumna Professor Dr Dr h.c. Monika Schnitzer studied Economics at the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Cologne, graduating in 1986. During her time in Cologne, she was shaped by the intellectual diversity and interdisciplinary exchange on campus and laid the foundation for an outstanding academic career at the WiSo Faculty.
After earning her doctorate from the University of Bonn, where she also completed her habilitation in 1995, she was appointed Professor of Economics at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1996. She has also held visiting professorships at renowned U.S. universities including Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, and Harvard. Her research focuses on innovation, competition policy, and multinational firms—topics that could hardly be more relevant in light of global transformation processes and geopolitical challenges.
Alongside her academic work, Monika Schnitzer has been actively engaged in economic policy advising for more than two decades. She advises the German federal government and the European Commission on key economic policy issues. In April 2020, she was appointed to the German Council of Economic Experts, commonly known as the “Wirtschaftsweisen.” Since October 2022, she has served as its chair—the first woman in the council’s nearly sixty-year history.
In our alumni interview, she reflects on formative encounters during her student years in Cologne, on the challenge of translating scientific evidence into political decision-making processes, and on how chocolate cookies can sometimes lure even Nobel laureates to attend research seminars.
The conversation vividly illustrates how rigorous economic training, international engagement, and responsible policy advising help translate research into political decision-making—thereby shaping public discourse in a lasting way.
To the interview: https://wiso.uni-koeln.de/en/transfer/alumni/wisoalumni-success-stories/monika-schnitzer