Diane Elson is responding to the following questions:

You are well-known in Germany as an economist who has been also dealing with feminist issues for – compared to German scientists – a relatively long period of time, as in your article on market socialism published in 1990. How did you come across feminist subjects at such an early point in time – at least for (German) economists?

Did you have academic teachers who raised such questions? Who were your academic teachers?

Economics still is one of the most male dominated sciences – regarding its exponents as well as the approaches and issues economics is dealing with. Do you have an explanation for this phenomenon?

Do you think feminist economics is a separated branch of economics or is it – or rather can and should it be – an integral part of at least some of the economic approaches?

Do you think Keynesian – or more generally – »left« heterodox economics are more prone and also more open for feminist questions than neoliberalism?

Neoliberalism opens opportunities for many women, even if this is at the expense of more inequality between women and men. This seems to hold true in particular for the developing and the emerging countries. What do you think about this conflict – if it is a conflict?

Is there a common understanding of what feminist economics is? What is the core of feminist economics for you?

You are one of the leading and most renowned economists worldwide specialising in gender sensitive budgeting. The concept has its roots in development economics and was first applied in developing countries or countries in transition – for example South Africa. Why is that so, and is it possible to directly transfer these experiences to the industrialised countries?

What can and should be done to promote gender budgeting in Europe?

What do you see as positive aspects of British economic policy and where should we be sceptical? Which are in your opinion Germany’s most striking economic problems, and what should be done about them?