Since the turn of the century hedge funds – largely unregulated institutional investors of Anglo-American origin – have forced a number of German publicly listed companies to focus on short-term shareholder value. This is diametrically opposed to the “patient capital” paradigm that had been traditional to German capitalism, which emphasized stability and long-term strategies. Hence, a German politician has termed them “locusts”, which in the opinion of many German commentators plunder the firms and then move on.

Jan Fichtner (BA, University of Sussex at Brighton; MA, Humboldt-University of Berlin) is a PhD student in Political Science at the Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main but is based at CCGES for the 2009 fall semester thanks to a scholarship from the Hans-Böckler-Foundation. While at CCGES, Jan is conducting research into the influence of hedge funds on “Rhenish capitalism”.

Location: CCGES, 7th floor, York Research Tower (map here)
Time: 12:30 – 2:00 pm