received a diploma in psychology at the University of Hamburg in 1966. After a one-year stay at Northwestern University (Illinois), he acquired his doctorate and venia legendi in political science at the University of Mannheim in 1971 and 1975. He was a professor of sociology at the University of Cologne from 1978 to 1997, and at the University of Bonn from 1997 until his retirement in 2004. Thereafter, he has devoted most of his time to study Austrian and Public Choice economics.