Prophet and Rock Star

It takes something to become a rock star without dressing outlandishly, singing astonishingly, dating wildly and doing everything to die early. Even more improbable is to attain such status wearing three-piece suits, a historical beard and staying married to the same person for more than forty-five years. And practicing the dismal science to boot.

And yet there he is. Hans-Werner Sinn, the closest thing to an economics rock star. The kind people point at in public places, whispering to their companions “Look over there! That’s Sinn!”

How in the world did he do it? Being clever is not enough. With a bit of hindsight, two traits must have surely helped him along—a striving nature and a driven attitude—plus a dose of serendipity.

Striving, yes, from the get-go. Although he originally wanted to be a biologist, once he opted for economics he got first prize both for his doctoral dissertation and for his habilitation thesis, the one that qualified him as a professor. He developed his thesis into an academic book which, unusually for its kind, went on to be translated into English and even see repeated editions. To prove it was not a one-off, he wrote a second academic tome, which duly made it into English as well.

So, he showed that he could write. Could he also do it beyond the academic realm, reaching out to people at large?

He had to give it a try. To jumpstart this new endeavour, he enlisted his wife Gerlinde. Choosing their subject carefully, since it had to be something suitably momentous, they zeroed in on German economic reunification. They called the book, appropriately, Jumpstart. It went through several editions and got translated not only into English, but also Korean, French and Russian. His career as the economic conscience of the nation was on its way.

No less than 11 other books followed, with some 140 scientific articles—to fill in the cracks in his daily schedule—plus around 500 ruminations and interviews on economic policy to round up his opus.

So: a striving chap alright.

And driven. Writing all that stuff while taking over the helm of a nose-diving institute and turning into a high-flyer, without taking his eyes off his academic duties, takes a lot more than just stamina. You’ve got to be on a mission.

That’s exactly what he is, in essence: a missionary. Out to bring the economic gospel to the political heathen and to the man and woman in the street. And to great effect: in due course he became the prophet of economic propriety.

Where does serendipity come in? A glimpse at the news suffices. He couldn’t have wished for anything more career-enhancing a few years before going into retirement than a global financial crisis, with a secondary offshoot erupting right on his home turf: the euro crisis. (It is rumoured that he actually engineered the latter.)

Suddenly, his wise assessments were very much on demand. He became the man of the hour, permanently on the limelight. There was not a single scary aspect of the crisis that he wouldn’t lay out in all its threatening detail. Politicians and the public at large quailed suitably. His utterances unerringly managed to move the needle.

And not only in his home country. The rest of Europe and many corners of the world have duly taken notice of this one scholar who is, paradoxically, able both to stick to the strictures of ordoliberalism and think out of the box at the same time.

He eventually rose to such an elevated status that the end of the year would find him, like the British Queen, bestowing knighthoods to those few who had proven their worth—as economists, of course. (He has always divided humankind into two groups: the economists, and the rest. Which was to say, the best and the rest.) The knighthoods would consist of him magnanimously allowing the new worthies to address him as “Du”, the German equivalent of being on a first-name basis. You knew you’d made it then. You were now somebody in his firmament.

And it showed. All his earliest acolytes rose to prominence in their field. Directors of this and presidents of that. Chairmen of this council or advisors to that government. The touch of the prophet.

And now, unlike many a rock star and even some prophets, he is retiring while he is still ahead. With his rock-star aura still intact. And still not a tattoo in sight.