1970 he received his doctorate in return for a topical piece of work entitled "Ein neuer Typ der Akkumulation" (loosely, "A new kind of capital accumulation"). Bremen Shortly after that Hickel accepted a professorship in "Politische Ökonomie" (loosely, "Political economics") at the University of Bremen, relocating north in 1971. His focus was on public finances. The university at Bremen, like that at Konstanz, was newly established: Rudolf Hickel has played a key role in establishing and building up the Economics department. In 1973 he accepted a professorship in Public finance. In 1975 he was a co-founder and became a member of the new West German "Working Group for Alternative Economic Policy". The working group submits annual alternative reports to the so-called West German Council of Economic Experts ("Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung"). It is in this connection that Hickel served for many years as a co-producer of the counter-opinion memorandum to the Council of Experts during the first week of each May. In 1993 he accepted the teaching chair in Finance at the University of Bremen. That year he also accepted an appointment as mediator on behalf of the union side in the Metal workers' wage negotiations in Saxony. Between November 2001 and September 2009 Rudolf Hickel served as director of the university Institute for Labour and Economics ("Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft" / IAW). He was succeeded in the post by Günter Warsewa. Beyond Bremen In 1989 Hickel became co-producer of the political-economic monthly Berlin-produced magazine Leviathan and of Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik. His submissions continue to appear frequently in the latter. During the summer term of 1990 he delivered a lecture series at Berlin University on the theme of "Market Functions and Market Failures - Underpinnings of a Mixed Economy" ("Marktfunktionen und Marktversagen – Grundlagen einer gemischten Wirtschaft"), which set the course for much of his subsequent output. In 1990 Hickel teamed up with Heiner Heseler to publish an important written opinion-piece under the title "Der maritime Sektor im Umbruch: wirtschaftsstrukturelle und beschäftigungspolitische Vorschläge für Rostock" (loosely, "The Maritime Sector in transition: proposals for Rostock on economic structures and employment policies". 1990 was the year of reunification: Rostock, like Bremen, is a major port, but had been part of "the other Germany", beyond the "Inner German border" since 1949. Many thoughtful Germans remained preoccupied with the dilemmas created by reunification for some years after 1990. In