Press release
11.09.2015

Hertie School research project STARS gets to the bottom of the financial crisis

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research funds comprehensive study of the causes and effects of the crisis with 850.000 Euro.

Berlin, 11 September 2015 – When global financial markets collapsed in 2007/2008, the biggest global economic crisis since the Second World War was catalysed. However, the academic exploration of the causes and consequences of the crisis is just beginning. To tackle these questions the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research will now fund a research project at the Hertie School with 850,000 Euro. As part of the three-year project “State, Risk and Society” (STARS) the Professors Anke Hassel, Gerhard Hammerschmid, Mark Hallerberg, Mark Kayser and Kai Wegrich will investigate the interplay of states and financial markets at the origin, and during the course, of the crisis.

 “We are going to investigate, among others, the role of the state as regulator of financial markets. How has the relationship between state, society and the financial market changed? Has this development expedited the outbreak of the crisis and which lessons do we take from it?“, outlined Anke Hassel, Professor of Public Policy at the Hertie School and coordinator of the project. In order to be able to identify the root causes the researchers will analyse the two decades leading up to the crisis as well.

Through four subprojects STARS will focus on the following areas:

  • Regulatory responses to public discourses about financial market failure and enforcement deficits of regulatory authorities.
  • The role of the state as service provider for old-age pensions and its repercussions on financial markets is studied in the subproject.
  • The role of the state as bank owner.
  • The state as a democratic agent and the constraints of electoral rules for reform outcomes.

The project’s findings will be presented and discussed at a conference in Brussels in 2018.

More information: www.hertie-school.org/stars

  • Ana Pérez, Associate Student Funding and Student Recruitment