Hertie School hosts Opening of Berlin School of Economics academic year

The Hertie School was delighted to host the opening of the Berlin School of Economics (BSoE) for the 2025–2026 Academic Year on 8 October 2025, with its annual Welcome Event in the Henrik Enderlein Forum. The evening brought together faculty, PhD candidates and Research Associates from across BSoE’s partner institutions to celebrate the beginning of a new year of research and collaboration.

“Welcoming new PhD candidates and Research Associates reminds us of what the BSoE stands for: a shared commitment to advancing economic research in Berlin and nurturing the next generation of scholars,” says Hertie School Professor of Economics Christian Traxler.

Welcoming the community

In her opening remarks, Cornelia Woll, President of the Hertie School, emphasised the significance of the BSoE as a collaborative academic project that brings together Berlin’s major research institutions under a unified structure for doctoral and postdoctoral development.

She described the school as “a place where rigorous economic research meets pressing social challenges”, built on the legacies of the BDPEMS and BERA programmes and the spirit of collaboration among institutions such as the Hertie School, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, WZB, DIW, and others.

“Welcoming new PhD candidates and Research Associates reminds us of what the BSoE stands for: a shared commitment to advancing economic research in Berlin and nurturing the next generation of scholars.”

Professor of Economics Christian Traxler, Hertie School

Following her remarks, Roland Strausz, Professor of Economics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Speaker of the BSoE, introduced the 28 new PhD candidates and 18 new Research Associates, marking the largest cohort in the school’s history. He underlined that the BSoE’s strength lies in collaboration rather than competition, bringing together institutions and researchers to advance economics in Berlin and beyond.
Introducing a new partner institution

Alexandra Spitz-Oener, Professor of Economics at HU Berlin and Deputy Director of the ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin), introduced the institute as the newest member of the BSoE network.

Founded in 2021 by Christian Dustmann (UCL) and funded by the ROCKWOOL Foundation Denmark, RF Berlin undertakes international research on migration, equity, inclusion, and human capital, and connects with over 400 research fellows worldwide. Collaborations include institutions such as CEPR, Harvard University, and Georgetown University, strengthening the network’s global reach.

Keynote lecture: The Economics of Women’s Rights

The evening’s highlight was the opening lecture by Michèle Tertilt, Professor of Economics at the University of Mannheim, on “The Economics of Women’s Rights.”
Tertilt began with a simple yet powerful question: Why do women in wealthier countries tend to have more rights – and where do these rights come from? Her talk explored the origins rather than the consequences of women’s rights, blending historical evidence with economic theory.

She structured her talk around four major phases in the evolution of women’s rights in the United States:

1. Basic economic rights (1848): The right to own property and sign contracts, starting with the Married Women’s Property Act in New York.
2. Political rights (1920): The right to vote, attained through universal female suffrage.
3. Labour market rights (1963): The right to equal pay under the Equal Pay Act.
4. Body rights (1973): The right to make decisions about one’s own body, established with Roe v. Wade – and later challenged by recent legal developments like Dobbs v. Jackson (2022), showing that rights can also be lost again.

Her lecture highlighted that progress in women’s rights has not been a straight line. In the early 20th century, so-called “protective” labour laws limited women’s working hours and types of employment, often justified as safeguarding their well-being but actually restricting economic participation.

Building on her joint research with Matthias Doepke (London School of Economics) and others, Tertilt introduced a political economy model that explains how reforms are often driven not by moral awakening but by economic incentives and structural change. When economies transitioned from agriculture to industrial and modern sectors, some groups – especially unskilled men – feared labour competition from women and supported restrictions, while increasing female labour-force participation later helped to remove those same barriers.

In her conclusion, Tertilt showed that the interaction between economic development, labour markets, and political power can both expand and restrict women’s rights, providing an economic explanation for why gender equality develops differently across societies.

Looking Ahead

The event closed with a reception and lively discussions among members of the Berlin economics community. As the BSoE begins a new academic year, the evening underscored the school’s core mission: fostering cooperation across institutions and generations to produce research that informs and inspires.

Watch a recording of the event below.

The original article was prepared by Marie-Wally Konrad and published on the Berlin School of Economics website.

Photo credits: Marie-Wally Konrad/Berlin School of Economics