Special funds, shadow budgets and the decline of budgetary discipline

Available anytime on YouTube: Prof. Dr. Söllner talks about the federal government's 29 special funds. The best known are probably the 100 billion euros for the German Armed Forces. He explains that the „special funds“ are actually nothing more than special debts – bypassing the federal budget. The Federal Audit Office has also criticised this. The special funds are used to circumvent the debt brake. The video is a recording of a lecture given on 30 January 2024 in Berlin.

Available anytime on YouTube:

Prof. Dr. Söllner talks about the 29 special funds that the federal government now has. The best known are probably the 100 billion euros for the German Armed Forces. He explains that the „special funds“ are actually nothing more than special debts – bypassing the federal budget. The Federal Audit Office has also criticised this. The special funds are used to circumvent the debt brake. The video is a recording of a lecture given on 30 January 2024 in Berlin.

About the speaker: Prof. Dr. Fritz Söllner is an economist specialising in public finance. Following a research stay at Harvard University, he now teaches economics at the Technical University of Ilmenau. He is a member of the Hayek Society and the Association for Social Policy. Since 2021, he has also been a member of the Academic Freedom Network. His academic interests include environmental economics and environmental policy, as well as migration policy and the history of economic thought.

To the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/u4GNjXNKgRc