The DAX is hitting new highs, while the interest paid on our savings accounts is lagging behind the rate of inflation, widening the gap between rich and poor. Rising asset prices and low real interest rates have thus sparked an interdisciplinary debate about the social, political and economic consequences of inequality and how the financial markets influence the dynamics of inequality. “Up until now, however, much of the empirical evidence available for the link between inequality and the world of finance has come from the US and relates to the period post-1970,” says Professor Carsten Burhop from the Department of History at the University of Bonn, who is the speaker for the Centre for Advanced Studies.
The main aim of the new center is therefore to study other countries and eras from an international perspective. “We want to combine multiple angles—that of financial history, business history, finance in general and macroeconomics—into one,” adds the second project lead Professor Christian Bayer from the Institute for Macroeconomics and Econometrics. He is also a member of two Clusters of Excellence: the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics at the University of Bonn and ECONtribute at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne.
The Finance and Inequality Centre for Advanced Studies is to become part of the Individuals and Societies Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) at the University of Bonn, which is run by the Faculty of Law and Economics and the Faculty of Arts. The University of Bonn is supporting the CAS by funding two additional Senior Fellowships, while the DFG will be providing the center with several million euros in funding over the next four years.
Scattering processes in particle accelerators
The DFG will also be funding a new Research Unit—Modern Fundamentals of Scattering Amplitudes—at the University of Bonn over the next four years. In particle physics, the scattering amplitude is the variable within a scattering process that links the theory with the actual experiment. The new Research Unit intends to study various aspects of these amplitudes and thus discover new fundamental principles of mathematics and physics and develop new methods for calculating them.
This will allow more precise calculations to be made of scattering processes in particle accelerators as well as gravitational waves, which are produced when black holes or neutron stars merge. “Modern experiments in particle and gravitational-wave physics are calling for increasingly accurate theoretical predictions, which only state-of-the-art mathematical models can provide. It’s precisely these that we’ll be using and developing further in the new Research Unit,” says its speaker Professor Claude Duhr from the Institute of Physics, who is also a member of the Matter Transdisciplinary Research Area at the University of Bonn.
About Centres for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences
By establishing Centres for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, the DFG provides specific support to working methods in these disciplines. A number of highly reputable researchers come together to explore a broadly defined topic that also leaves them scope for their individual research ideas.
Meanwhile, Research Units enable researchers to tackle some of the pressing questions in their fields of expertise and open up innovative areas of work. They can be funded for up to eight years.
