Matthias Sutter in Conversation with Marc Elsberg

Greed: Is Cooperation the Solution to All Economic Problems?

November 20, 2020

In his novel "Gier" ("Greed"), published in 2019, the Viennese author Marc Elsberg sketches the world in a further economic crisis. At a special summit in Berlin, people want to find solutions. A Nobel Prize winner who wants to give a groundbreaking speech at the summit dies in a traffic accident on his way to the conference venue. He had allegedly found a formula for "cooperation" that would bring prosperity to all.

This is where the new discussion series "Science Meets Literature" comes in: Would "cooperation" really be the solution to many economic problems, or would that remain pure fiction? What has science already researched in this regard? And how are the current COVID-19 events changing previous research results?

Matthias Sutter is director of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn and professor of experimental economics at the universities of Cologne and Innsbruck. He is one of the leading research economists in the German-speaking world and focuses on cooperation, team decisions, and the importance of patience, for instance in his best-selling book, "Die Entdeckung der Geduld" ("The Discovery of Patience").

Marc Elsberg lives and works in Vienna. With his international bestsellers BLACKOUT, ZERO, HELIX, and GIER, he has established himself as a master of the science thriller. BLACKOUT and ZERO were voted Knowledge Book of the Year in the entertainment category by the "Bild der Wissenschaft" jury. His in-depth research has made Marc Elsberg a sought-after discussion partner in politics, business, and the media.

Presented by Maja Brankovic, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

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