On December 5, Michael Rochlitz, Professor of Economics, especially Institutional Change, gave his inaugural lecture at the Faculty of Business Studies and Economics of the University of Bremen. He gave a broad overview of his current research on the relationship between political institutions and economic development in Russia and China.

His political-economic and international comparative research makes use of modern methods, including natural and controlled field experiments. The inaugural lecture was attended by members of the rectorate, the Bremen Ministry of Science, the Faculty of Business Studies and Economics, the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), the Research Center Eastern Europe and many other guests.

Michael Rochlitz was appointed at the University of Bremen on April 1, 2019 coming from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. Previously, he was a junior professor at the National Research University - Higher School of Economics in Moscow. His doctorate was awarded at the Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca in Italy. He studied economics and political science in Paris (Sciences Po) and Scotland (St. Andrews), development economics at SOAS in London and Russian at Lomonossow University in Moscow.

The professorship was newly established by the Faculty of Business Studies and Economics in close connection with the research association Mod-Block-DDR (Modernization Blockades in Economics and Science of the GDR). The research network, which is initially financed by the BMBF with several million euros for four years (2018 to 2022), is headed by Jutta Günther at the Faculty of Business Studies and Economics at the University of Bremen.