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Am 16. April 1587 ereignete sich am Rheinübergang Bendern-Haag ein schweres Fährunglück, bei dem über 80 Personen aus Gams ertranken. Die Katastrophe fand eine ausführliche Darstellung in Johann Jakob Wicks zeitgenössischer «Wunderchronik», die weit über die knappen Angaben in anderen Chroniken hinausgeht – und ausserdem eine rare Abbildung enthält!

The results of a comprehensive online survey conducted by the Liechtenstein Institute on the 2025 parliamentary elections are now available. Over 1,300 voters who took part in the elections also took part in the survey. This allowed us to gain differentiated insights into the voting behavior, motives and information behavior of the Liechtenstein electorate.

In 1984, Liechtenstein’s men also granted women the right to vote. However, this alone did not bring about gender equality. Nevertheless, equal treatment in the political sphere marked the start of a major reform of marriage and family law. The article by Patricia Schiess, recently published in the Liechtensteinische Juristen-Zeitung LJZ, shows the interplay between legislation and case law from 1982 to the present day.

The Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Bern has awarded Karin Frick a Doctor rerum socialum. Her dissertation, which she wrote under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Marc Bühlmann (Année Politique Suisse), is entitled "Das 'vertretbare' Parlament: Typen parlamentarischer Stellvertretung in den Schweizer Kantonen und Liechtenstein". She recently received her diploma in Bern.

The monitoring report for 2024, which has now been published and partly redesigned in terms of content, represents a comprehensive scientific review of the topic of extremism in Liechtenstein and is now available online.

From June 26 to 28, the Liechtenstein Institute team went on an intensive two-and-a-half-day retreat at the Propstei St. Gerold (A) to discuss key topics relevant to the Institute and to further develop the Institute.

The increasing geopolitical fragmentation of the global economy and the associated economic uncertainty are weighing on both the international and domestic economy. Andreas Brunhart and Martin Geiger comment on the current developments in different articles.

Following Liechtenstein’s accession to the IMF last fall, an IMF delegation of experts visited Liechtenstein in January 2025 as part of the first Article IV mission. The resulting IMF reports and analyses on Liechtenstein have now been discussed in detail at the 13th LIEconomics Seminar.

Martin Geiger completed his habilitation in economics at the University of Innsbruck. His habilitation thesis comprises a series of articles that examine the role of economic expectations of companies and households as well as economic uncertainty in the business cycle.

Another year of rapid development in Liechtenstein lies behind us, with events that the Liechtenstein Institute has analyzed and placed in a larger picture. The Annual Report 2024 bears witness to this.

Economist Johannes Lehmann joined the Department of Economics at the Liechtenstein Institute at the beginning of June 2025.

On May 20, 2025, Georges Baur gave a lecture in Bern as part of the "European Law at Noon" lecture series organized by the Federal Office of Justice and the European Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

On May 23, 2025, Georges Baur gave a lecture on "30 years of Liechtenstein in the European Economic Area" to the German-Liechtensteinischer Freundeskreis Wetzlar and the Kulturförderung Wetzlar on the occasion of the German Europe Weeks.

The journal «International Economics and Economic Policy» has published an article by Andreas Brunhart. The article uses cross-sectional regressions to examine the economic resilience of all countries worldwide during the Financial Crisis 2008/09, with analytical focus on the influence of country size alongside other important determinants (economic, political, geographical).

On May 13, the Zukunft.li Foundation held its annual economic outlook, at which Andreas Brunhart from the Liechtenstein Institute was also represented as a speaker.

On May 1, 2025, Liechtenstein celebrated the 30th anniversary of its accession to the European Economic Area (EEA) and thus its participation in the enlarged EU internal market. On May 14, 2025, the Liechtenstein Institute dedicated the international conference "The Future of the EEA Internal Market in view of current geopolitical and global economic challenges" to this occasion. Speakers from all EEA states ventured a look into the future.

Rising uncertainty in the global economy continued to weigh on international trade, contributing to ongoing weakness of Liechtenstein’s business cycle. The value of the KonSens business cycle index slightly fell in the 1st quarter of 2025 to −1.1, as Liechtenstein’s foreign goods trade remained sluggish and the company survey data were subdued.

WirtschaftsWoche recently published an article on the positive development of Liechtenstein’s public finances, with assessments by Andreas Brunhart.

In 2024, extensive renovation work was carried out on the Liechtenstein Institute building, which is owned by the municipality of Gamprin. This included various measures on the exterior and interior. The aim of the renovation was to make the listed building as safe and thermally insulated as possible in summer. Rosmarie Lorenz has put together a visual tour of the renovation work.

The church hill of Bendern - home to the Liechtenstein Institute since 1997 - together with Oberbendern to the north, forms the hamlet of Bendern, which belongs to the municipality of Gamprin-Bendern. A new brochure contains selected aspects of the development of the church hill and its immediate surroundings.

Yesterday, Karin Frick presented an analysis of the parliamentary deputization systems in Liechtenstein and the Swiss cantons to an interested audience. Not only are there countless ways in which parliamentary deputization can be regulated, there are also very different goals and priorities behind them.

Yesterday, Thursday, Thomas Milic presented an evaluation of «sympathy votes» behavior in the 2025 state elections. The Liechtenstein electorate makes extensive use of the option to add individuals from other electoral lists. The interactive presentation of his talk is now available online.

From March 27-28, 2025, the third workshop on "Empirical Macroeconmics: The Transmission of Macroeconomic Shocks and Policy Challenges" took place at the Johannes Kepler University Linz in cooperation with the Liechtenstein Institute and the University of Innsbruck.

The management of the Liechtenstein Institute's specialist departments changes at regular intervals. At the beginning of March 2025, two departments were given new heads. Stephan Scheuzger took over as head of the History Department, replacing Fabian Frommelt, who had been in charge for two years. There was also a change in the Department of Economics. Andreas Brunhart is taking over as Head of the Department for the second time, having previously held the position for two years with Martin Geiger.

Liechtenstein’s economic output measured by real gross domestic product (GDP) stagnated in 2024, interrupting the brief economic upward trend of the previous year. According to the Liechtenstein-Institute’s estimation model, nominal GDP will amount to around CHF 7’484 million in 2024. In relation to the nominal GDP 2023 of the preliminary estimate published by the Office for Statistics, the estimation model for 2024 shows nominal GDP growth of just over 0%; adjusted for inflation, the real GDP growth rate in 2024 is therefore around −1%.

On March 26, 2025, the local council of the municipality of Gamprin visited the Liechtenstein Institute to view the results of the 2024 building renovation work. Director Thomas Meier welcomed the guests and thanked the municipality of Gamprin for its support in this successful renovation of the former vicarage. Following a brief tour of the building, the local council held its council meeting in the seminar room of the Liechtenstein Institute.

The last two issues of "Wirtschaft regional" featured a two-part interview with Andreas Brunhart and Martin Geiger on the current challenges facing Liechtenstein's economic growth.

From March 14 to 16, a Liechtenstein team took part in the EEA Moot Court in Oslo for the first time. This is a competition in which EFTA Court proceedings are simulated

On February 18, 2025, His Excellency Luca Beccari, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Economic Cooperation and Digital Transformation, visited the Liechtenstein Institute with his delegation.

The Liechtenstein Institute's Growth Monitor, which has now been published for the fourth time, depicts the long-term growth development and sustainability of Liechtenstein's economy from various perspectives. The Growth Monitor 2024 also includes a focus chapter on the topic of labor shortages.