Research Departments

All Departments at a glance

Macro Analysis and Forecasting

The department produces macroeconomic analyses and forecasts as well as analyses of the effects of economic policy measures on production and employment. It also examines macroeconomic matters, such as the implications of the increased integration of financial markets on the real economy. From these results, it draws conclusions for economic policy.


International Economics

The department International Economics analyzes global challenges facing the world economy.


Public Economics

The Public Economics department examines how government actions influence businesses and individuals.


Innovation, Manufacturing, Service

The department Innovation, Manufacturing, Service studies the behavior of businesses and the development of markets in a continually changing global environment. Taking government activities into consideration, it analyzes, primarily with empirical methods, current business strategies for the development and introduction of new products and services, for factor input optimization, for the choice of location, as well as for the securing of financing.


Information Society and Competition

The research program of the department analyzes how corporate strategies, competitive structures and regulatory environments are affected by the growing importance of information and communication technologies. The ambition of the research program is to use gained theoretical and empircal insights to develop new concepts for competition policy and sector specific regulation of network industries, in particular the telecommunications sector.


Energy, Transportation, Environment

The department evaluates energy, transportation, and environmental strategies for sustainable development.


German Socio-Economic Panel Study

The main task of the department is planning, carrying out, and editing the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). This wide-ranging longitudinal survey started in 1984 and currently covers about 23,000 individuals living in more than 12,000 private households.