Konstanz Seminar

At the time, Brunner taught at Ohio State University and regularly spent the summer at the University of Konstanz. His aim was to create a small, intensive forum in which younger European economists and central bankers could engage directly with leading international researchers in monetary economics.

From the outset, the Seminar combined advances in economic theory with empirical analysis and discussion of their implications for monetary and economic policy. The format has remained deliberately small: around 40 invited participants, including academics, junior researchers, central bankers, and other economists, meet for extensive presentations and open discussion.

Following Karl Brunner, the Seminar has been shaped by organizers including Allan H. Meltzer, Manfred J. M. Neumann, Jürgen von Hagen, and Keith Kuester. It is supported by the non-profit Verein Konstanzer Seminar e.V., based in Bonn, with a longstanding emphasis on maintaining the Seminar’s academic and institutional independence.

More than five decades after its founding, the Konstanz Seminar continues the format established by Brunner: a small international meeting devoted to research, policy, and substantive discussion in monetary economics.