Can We Explain the Co-Evolution of Democracy and Market Economy by Adaptive Preferences?
In the research presented in this interview, the idea of adaptive preferences is applied to the co-evolution of democracy and market economy. CARL CHRISTIAN VON WEIZSÄCKER explains that the ideal of democracy and market economy though somehow antithetic are inter-dependent in a normative sense: While democracy provides freedom and stability, progress is only ensured by a market economy that allows for innovation.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10087Researcher
Carl Christian von Weizsäcker is Emeritus Professor for Economics and senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn, Germany. His areas of interest include welfare economics with adaptive preferences, history of economics and social market economics. Von Weizsäcker has held teaching positions at serval high profile universities, including the University of Heidelberg, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Cologne. He chaired the German Monopoly Commission and is a member of the Advisory Group of the German Minister of Economic Affairs. He has published numerous scientific articles and books and is a founding member and fellow of the European Economic Association, foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and member of Acatech (National Academy of Science and Engineering).
Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods
Initially founded as a Max Planck institute that investigates the provision of collective goods, the institute has developed into an international hub that focuses in its research mainly on applied economics and on behavioral law. Moreover, the institute hosts three independent research groups on “moral courage”, “economic cognition”, and “mechanisms of normative change”. The set of researchers from various disciplines, such as economics, law, psychology, and sociology, constitutes a truly interdisciplinary environment that facilitates a cross-fertilization of ideas.
Original Publication
Die normative Ko-Evolution von Marktwirtschaft und Demokratie
Carl Christian von Weizsäcker
Published in 2014