Happy 50th Anniversary, Intereconomics!
by Dr. Carsten R. Moser
Intereconomics has played an important role as an international platform in which academic as well as political actors have had the chance to discuss and exchange knowledge and ideas. It is my privilege to have been asked by the publication to reflect on my contribution to its development as assistant editor, editor and editor-in-chief between 1968 and 1973.
Carsten R. Moser was Editor-in-Chief of Wirtschaftsdienst and Intereconomics from 1971 until 1972.
When I graduated with a degree in Economics in 1968, Professor Heinz-Dietrich Ortlieb gave me the opportunity to write a doctoral thesis on “Tourism and Economic Development – the case of Spain”. At the same time, he offered me the chance to start on a part-time-basis in the editorial staff of the two monthly magazines published at that time by the HWWA Institute in Hamburg, of which he was the president. Their titles: Wirtschaftsdienst in German and Intereconomics in English. He probably engaged me because I had finished school in Canada and was fluent in English.
Although I had planned to finish in two years, it took me until January 1973 to receive my PhD, mainly due to the fact that Otto G. Mayer, a colleague with whom I started in the HWWA, and I first became editors and in 1971 editors-in-chief of both magazines. It meant extra work, of course, but it also gave us the opportunity to get to know not only interesting people all over the world whom we asked for contributions, but also the journalistic profession, first under the direction of Dietrich Kebschull and Wolfgang Reisener, and then assuming responsibility ourselves. Quite a challenge for two youngsters who suddenly had to deal with the egos of distinguished professors and prominent politicians while editing their papers.
While looking through archives in preparation for this tribute, I found a list of my articles in Intereconomics during those years. Some of the titles seem as relevant today as they were then: “North and South in One Boat”, “On the Verge of a New Protectionist Wave?” or “Monetary Experts in the Dark”. All in all, my years with Wirtschaftsdienst and Intereconomics were crucial for my decision to continue in journalism: first from 1973 until 1978 as correspondent for the German weekly Die Zeit in Spain and Portugal; then from 1978 until 1985 for the magazine Stern as deputy head international, assistant managing editor, and correspondent in London; and from 1985 on as CEO of the G+J Magazine Division in Spain. I am therefore thankful to Professor Ortlieb, the HWWA Institute and its two publications, which made decisive contributions to my very exciting and gratifying career.
