Prof. Dr. Marcus Sidki, professor of economics and statistics at the Ludwigshafen University of Economics and Society, has been appointed as a fellow at the Liberal Institute of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Berlin for a period of 12 months on September 1st, 2020.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom offers political education in Germany and around the world based on the idea of ​​liberalism. The Liberal Institute is the foundation's think tank. It addresses current political questions, formulates positions that further develop the political model of liberalism, and puts them up for public discussion.

As part of the fellowship, Professor Sidki is actively involved in the network of the Liberal Institute with actors from politics, associations and business in Berlin's political establishment and, in addition, organizes event formats as part of the foundation's political education activities. The aim is to write a study on the subject of public enterprises. These are companies that are majority-owned by the public sector. In Germany there are around 18,000 such companies with around 2.1 million employees. They are active in different areas, e.g. in the energy and heat supply sector, as housing associations, hospitals, or in waste disposal. They usually provide services of general interest and are basically in competition with companies from the private sector.

The study, which Professor Sidki is working on as part of the fellowship, is intended to provide an in-depth analysis of the position public enteprises occupy in a social market economy and where there are possible exaggerations in state interventions and distortions of competition. Based on national and international scientific findings for the discussion of the pros and cons of such public sector activities and taking regulatory aspects into account, the study should result in policy-making suggestions in line with the foundation's mandate.