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Armin STEINBACH

Professor

Law & Tax

Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law and Economics
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Biography

Armin Steinbach is currently on leave to serve as director-general in the German Ministry of Finance in charge of economic and fiscal policy strategy.

Armin holds the Jean Monnet Chair and the HEC Foundation Chair of Law and Economics at HEC Paris. He is also visiting professor at the London School of Economics (LSE) and non-resident Fellow at Brussels-based think tank Bruegel. Previously, Armin held academic posts as Gwilym Gibbon Fellow at Oxford University's Nuffield College, Senior Fellow at the Max Planck Instite for Collective Goods in Bonn, Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, visiting professor at University of St. Gallen, and Harvard University's Center for European Studies.

During previous stages as government official, Armin headed the financial policy division in the German Ministry of Finance and the economic policy division in the Ministry of Economic and Energy Affairs. He also worked at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva and as lawyer with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in Brussels. Armin sits on the WTO list of panelists serving the WTO Dispute Settlement Body.

With his mixed background in academia and public service, Armin's research aims at interdisciplinary inquiry and bridging academic research and policy-making. Besides his academic publications, Armin has been a contributor and commentator to BBC, CNBC, Le Monde, Les Echos, Financial Times, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Handelsblatt.

Armin obtained his Habilitation from University of Bonn, for which he was awarded the Science Prize of the German Society of Legislation. He also holds a Doctor of Laws from University of Munich, Doctor of Economics from University of Erfurt, Master of Laws from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Master in Economics from Humboldt University Berlin.

Scientific articles

Das Amt in einer Gesellschaft der Singularitäten [The Public Office in the Society of Singularities]

Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie, June 2022, vol. 108, n° 2, pp 288-312,

The Federalism Dimension of Proportionality

European Law Journal, January-May 2022, vol. 28, n° 1-3, pp 36-49,

Next Generation EU – Rechtliche Aspekte der Aufbau- und Resilienzpläne [Next Generation EU – Legal issues surrounding Resilience and Recovery Plans]

Zeitschrift für Gesetzgebung, 2022, vol. 37, n° 1, pp 1-15,

Are the Fingerprints of WTO Staff on Panel Rulings a Problem? A Reply to Joost Pauwelyn and Krzysztof Pelc

European Journal of International Law, May 2022, vol. 33, n° 2, pp 565-574,

The Greening of the Economic and Monetary Union

Common Market Law Review, 2022, vol. 59, n° 2, pp 329 – 362,

Politikberatung zwischen Ambition und Wirklichkeit / Policy Advice between Ambition and Reality

Wirtschaftsdienst, July 2022, vol. 102, n° 7, pp 427-430,

Monetary Financing and Fiscal Discipline

International Review of Law and Economics, December 2021, vol. 68, n° 106004, (in coll. with O. HÜLSEWIG)

Neo-Liberalism, State-Capitalism and Ordo-Liberalism: ‘Institutional Economics’ and ‘Constitutional Choices’ in Multilevel Trade Regulation

The Journal of World Investment & Trade, 2021, vol. 22, n° 1, pp 1-40, (in coll. with E.-U. Petersmann)

Compliance effects of sovereign debt cuts

International Review of Law and Economics, December 2019, vol. 60, n° 105854, (in coll. with E. Janeba)

Fiscal rules and structural reforms

International Review of Law and Economics, June 2019, vol. 58, pp 34-42, (in coll. with R. Sajedi)

Books

Kommentar zum Netzausbau

Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York

Damit Deutschland vorankommt – Kompass für eine progressive Wirtschaftspolitik [What Germany Needs – A Guide for Progressive Economic Policy]

Berliner vorwärts Verlagsgesellschaft (in coll. with H. HEIL )

Nach der Krise ist vor der Krise [After the Crisis is Before the Crisis]

Metropolis (in coll. with P. STEINBERG )

Die Haftung der Europäischen Gemeinschaft und ihrer Mitgliedsstaaten für WTO-Rechtsverletzungen aus juristischer und ökonomischer Perspektive [EU and Member States‘ Liability

Duncker & Humblot

Das Staatsverständnis von Charles de Gaulle [Charles de Gaulle’s understanding of the state]

Nomos

Niemandsland [No man’s land]

Les Éditions du Crieur Public

Chapters in edited books

Verursacherprinzip und Verursacher [Polluter principle and polluter]

Verwaltungsrechtsprechung [Cases In Administration Law], Armin Steinbach, Mohr Siebeck, 619-622

Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit und Bundesverwaltungsgericht [Administrative jurisdiction and the Federal Administrative Law Court]

Verwaltungsrechtsprechung [Cases In Administration Law], Armin Steinbach, Mohr Siebeck, 30-33

Plan B - retreat from integration?

The Future Of The Eurozone, Alexander Schellinger & Philipp Steinberg, Transcript Verlag [Transcript Publishing], 175-188

Plan B – Rückbau der Integration [Plan B – Retreat from integration]

Die Zukunft Der Eurozone [The Future Of The Eurozone], Alexander Schellinger & Philipp Steinberg, Transcript Verlag [Transcript Publishing], 189-207

Streitbeilegung durch öffentlich-private Schiedsgerichte – Friedenssicherung oder Unruhestifter? [Dispute settlement through public-private dispute settlement]

Rechtsfrieden – Friedensrecht [Legal Peace - Law Of Peace], Jennifer Hölzlwimmer, Daniel Engel, Lukas Krönke, Annika Schmidl, Helena Bebert & Julia Faber, Nomos, 57-70

Auf dem Weg ins regenerative Zeitalter – Ein Offshore-Netz in der Nordsee [On the way to the regenerative age – An offshore grid in the North Sea]

Erneuerbare Energien [Renewable Energies], Karl J. Thomé-Kozmiensky & Michael Beckmann, TK Verlag, 5 , 231-237

The effect of WTO law in the legal order of the European Community: a judicial protection deficit or a real-political solution, or both?,

Michael Lang, Judith Herdin & Ines Hofbauer, Linde, 49-72

Proceedings

Working papers

Scientific articles

Der EU-Corona-Aufbaufonds – nächste Etappe in die Fiskal- und Transferunion? [NGEU – next step towards the fiscal transfer union?]

Neue Juristische Wochenschrift, February 2023, vol. 7, pp 405-410, (in coll. with S. GRUND)

Economic sanctions and human rights: Quantifying proportionality

Harvard Human Rights Journal, 2023, vol. 2023, n° 36, pp 401-440, (in coll. with Jerg Gutmann, Matthias Neuenkirch, Florian Neumeier)

L’union budgétaire et de transfert sans limites juridiques ?

Revue Trimestrielle de Droit Européen, October-December 2023, vol. 4, pp 681-696,

The EU’s Turn to ‘Strategic Autonomy’: Leeway for Policy Action and Points of Conflict

European Journal of International Law, November 2023, vol. 34, n° 4, pp 973-1006,

Books

EU Liability and International Economic Law

Hart Publishing

Kommentar zum Netzausbau [Commentary on Energy Grid Law]

Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York

Messstellenbetriebsgesetz [The Digitization of Energiewende]

Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York (in coll. with M. WEISE )

Rationale Gesetzgebung

Mohr Siebeck

Chapters in edited books

Markets as an Accountability Mechanism in EU Economic Governance

Substantive Accountability In Europe'S New Economic Governance, Cambridge University Press, 1 , 63-80

Die Bedeutung der ökonomischen Analyse für das öffentliche Recht [Public Law and Economics]

Wandlungen Im Öffentlichen Recht, Sebastian Bretthauer et al., Nomos, 425-442

Die Gewerbeordnung im Blickwinkel rationaler Gesetzgebung [Rationality of the law governing the industrial sector]

150 Jahre Gewerbeordnung, Winfried Kluth & Stefan Korte, Cuvillier Verlag [Cuvillier Publishing], 31-50

Effektuierung der Rechtsbefolgung als interdisziplinärer Gegenstand [Interdisciplinary perspectives on law and compliance]

Warum Befolgen Wir Recht? [Why Do We Obey The Law?], Patrick Hilpert & Rochen Rauber, Mohr Siebeck, 271-296

Proceedings

Working papers

Education

  • Habilitation, University of Bonn - Germany
  • Doctorate in Economics, University of Erfurt - Germany
  • Legal State Board Examination, admission to the bar - Germany
  • Doctorate in Law, University of Munich - Germany
  • M.Sc. in Economics, Humboldt University - Germany
  • LL. M., Free University Brussels - Belgium

Academic appointments

Academic Responsibilities at HEC

  • 2023-2024 Department Head, Law and Tax HEC Paris
  • 2022- Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law and Economics HEC Paris
  • 2021- Professor of Law HEC Paris

External Academic Responsibilities

  • 2025- Director-General for Economic and Fiscal Policy Ministère Allemand des Finances
  • 2019- Affiliate Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods
  • 2016-2018 Jean Monnet Fellow European University Institute, Florence

Scientific Activities

Conference organisation

  • 2022-2022 2022 Sustainable Governance Conference organizer
  • Awards & honors

    • 2022 Jean Monnet Chair holder in EU Law and Economics