German Institute for Economic Research

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The German Institute for Economic Research, German Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW Berlin) is one of the leading research institutes in Germany. It is an independent, non-profit academic institution which is involved in basic research and policy advice. DIW Berlin was originally founded in 1925 as Institute for Business Cycle Research and was later renamed to its current name.

DIW Berlin presents its research results in science journals, within the scope of national and international scientific events as well as at workshops, symposia and colloquia. The research results provide a basis for the exchange of ideas among experts and other relevant groups. Current economic and structural data, forecasts and advices as well as services in the area of quantitative economics are provided to decision makers in economics and policy and the broad public. DIW Berlin endues a target group specific range of publications, events and data sources. Furthermore, the research results meet with major response in media.

DIW Berlin is striving to become an internationally respected scientific think tank for applied economic research and policy advice to national and international policy makers, the business community and the general public.

DIW Berlin is committed

  • to conduct applied economic research recognized by the international scientific community and
  • provide research-based policy advice to national, European and international policy makers, the business community and the general public.

Both applied economic research and policy advice are the joint product of a quality research culture at DIW Berlin. As an independent institute, DIW Berlin brings together:

  • advanced methodological skills,
  • a thorough understanding of economic, social and political institutions,
  • a sense for timely economic policy issues and
  • an expanded network of researchers worldwide.

The challenges of DIW Berlin are

  1. Pursue scientific excellence in economic research
  2. Link together economic research and policy advice
  3. Raise relevant policy issues in the public
  4. Build a strong reputation as a partner in international research networks

Contents

[edit] Leadership and Bodies

The legal status of DIW Berlin is that of a registered association. The association's bodies are the Members, the Board of Trustees, the Executive Board and the Scientific Advisory Board. To date, there are 185 employees, 102 of them being researchers.

[edit] Executive Board

  • Professor Dr. Klaus F. Zimmermann (President since 2000)
  • Prof. Dr. Georg Meran (Vice-President since 2003)
  • Dr. Susanne Maria Schmidt (Managing Director since 2003)

[edit] Heads of Department

Research Departments

  • Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Alfred Steinherr, Macro Analysis and Forecasting
  • Dr. Tilman Brueck, International Economics
  • Prof. Dr. Viktor Steiner, Public Economics
  • Prof. Dr. Christian Wey, Information Society and Competition
  • Prof. Axel Werwatz, Ph.D. Innovation, Manufacturing, Service
  • Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert, Energy, Transportation and Environment
  • Prof. Dr. Gert G. Wagner, Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP)

Service Departments

  • Matthias Reichel, Management Services
  • Jens Michael Brinton, Information Technology
  • Doerte Hoeppner, Information and Organization


[edit] Research Departments of DIW Berlin

The Institute is divided into seven Research Departments, which are:

  • The Department of Macro Analysis and Forecasting conducts theoretical and empirical analyses of economic developments and policies in Germany, the European Union and the world
  • The Department of International Economics undertakes leading applied economic research on Europe and the world economy and provides relevant public policy advice
  • The unifying research theme of the Department of Public Economics is how the various policy instruments of the welfare state, such as taxes, transfers, the provision of public services, and government regulations, affect the allocation of resources and the distribution of incomes
  • The research program of the Department of Information Society and Competition analyzes how corporate strategies and competition patterns are changed by the growing importance of information and communication technologies.
  • The Department of Innovation, Manufacturing, Service analyzes the development of manufacturing industries, service industries and their respective markets in an international context. The central question is which kinds of production have especially high potential for development in Germany and which ones will decrease in importance.
  • The Department of Energy, Transportation and Environment focuses on two main economic challenges, namely on environmentally-friendly, sustainable development and on the regulation of infrastructure sectors.
  • The Department German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) is a wide-ranging longitudinal survey, that started in 1984 and currently covers about 23,000 individuals living in more than 12,000 private households.

[edit] Co-operations

A broad range of predominantly external Research Directors, Research Professors and Research Affiliates research along with the employees of DIW Berlin. They co-operate for a specific time, perform cross sectional tasks, care about scientific surveys (such as diploma thesis, dissertations) and release important pulses for the institute.

[edit] Financing

More than half of the Institute's budget is derived from public grants, which DIW Berlin receives as research funding from the State of Berlin and the Federal Government in equal parts. This sum is supplemented by income from projects, research contracts with third parties, trustee memberships and donations. Because of its financial structure DIW Berlin is member of the Leibniz Association (WGL).

[edit] Report on the German economy

The ifo Institute is one of the leading economic research institutes in Germany that, twice a year (in Spring and Autumn), submit a joint report on the state of the German economy, the so-called Gemeinschaftsdiagnose (joint diagnosis). [1]

The other institutes are:

[edit] Publications

Dissemination of information is fundamental to DIW Berlin. As a leading economic research institute, it seeks to supply the wider public with up-to-date economic and structural data, forecasts, research reports, and services in the field of quantitative economics. Research results are presented in the Institute's own publications and in publications edited in co-operation with the Institute.

[edit] Economic Situation Forecasts

Forecasts about current and future trends in Germany, EU and world economy are published on a regular basis by DIW Berlin.

[edit] Publications

Wochenbericht

Readily available, condensed information on current economic policy issues. Published weekly in German (Wochenbericht des DIW Berlin).

Weekly Report

The Weekly Report is DIW Berlin's new Online-Publication. Every month, three articles of the Wochenbericht will be published in English.

Quarterly Journal of Economic Research

Each issue concentrates on a topic relevant to the current economic policy debate. It includes detailed information on research findings and their methodological basis.

Discussion papers

The papers are presenting pre-publications of research results.

DIW Berlin: Policy Advice Compact

Public Consulting is one of our main tasks. DIW Berlin furnishes opinions for the Federal Government of Germany, the Commission of the European Union, the Ministries of Federal and State Governments, political parties, interest groups and associations, and the social partners. In the new series “DIW Berlin: Policy Advice Compact” these research reports will be published.

Applied Economics Quarterly (Konjunkturpolitik)

Applied Economics Quarterly is an international journal publishing empirical research on issues with relevance for all areas of economic policy. AEQ is published four times a year in English.

[edit] DIW Berlin Events

Industrial Conference

The Industrial Conference is the traditional institutionalised forum for exchange between the DIW Berlin and the business sector. Since October 1960, the forum has met twice a year - May and November. Approximately one hundred representatives of enterprises, business associations and economic sciences participate regularly. Since the Federal Government moved to Berlin, the conference has been attracting increasing numbers of participants from politics. The conference understands itself to be a platform for dialogs on different viewpoints and opinions.

Lunchtime Meetings

The Berlin Lunchtime Meetings are a joint series of monthly expert talks hosted by the Center of Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and the Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA). The seminars serve as a platform for leading European and international researchers to address important policy issues, and as a forum for debate and discussion among researchers, policy makers and the private sector.

[edit] History

1925 In July 1925 Ernst Wagemann founds DIW Berlin, which is originally called Institute for Business Cycle Research, and becomes the first President.

1928 In the context of the Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, Arthur Hanau publishes his dissertation „The phenomenon of cyclical development” and becomes head of the agricultural market research in Germany. Using his concept of the „Pork Cycle“ is still a popular way of explaining students of economics the relationship between demand and supply.

1933-1945 During the Nazi Regime, Ernst Wagemann is removed from his office. He is questioned several times by the Gestapo and even arrested for a while in 1942. By the end of 1943, the Institute for Business Cycle Research , now renamed in German Institute for Economic Research, is partially relocated to Feldberg, Mecklenburg.

1945 Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Friedensburg takes on being the President of the German Institute for Economic Research until 1968. Now, after the war, the main focus of economic research lies upon economic issues within the city of Berlin.

1950 The first Wochenbericht after the war is published, covering a detailed report about „Germany´ s economic situation at the end of 1945”.

1956 The German Institute for Economic Research moves into its new building in Koenigin-Luise-Straße.

1960 For the first time, the so-called “Grundlinien der Wirtschaftsentwicklung”, forecasts about current and future trends in Germany, EU and world economy, are published. They are referring to the year of 1961.

1968 Dr. Klaus Dieter Arndt becomes new President of the German Institute for Economic Research.

1972 Newly established departments are the Department of Transportation, the Department of Public Finance and the Department of Money and Capital Markets.

1978 Dr. Karl Koenig takes on being new the President of the German Institute for Economic Research.

1979 The German Institute for Economic Research publishes the Wochenbericht „Eine mittelfristige Strategie zur Wiedergewinnung der Vollbeschaeftigung“, proposing strategies for re-establishing full employment in Germany. Taking this report into account, the federal government derives a programme for future investment in year 1977-1980, one of the very few programmes which consequence is a noticeable drop in German unemployment rates.

1983 Prof. Dr. Hans Juergen Krupp becomes new President of the German Institute for Economic Research.

1989 The Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) is now part of the German Institute for Economic Research. The main focus of the service institution SOEP is on basic research and scientific services. The Socio-Economic Panel regularly surveys 10,000 private households in a representative longitudinal study. The data acquired is analysed within and outside the German Institute for Economic Research, the results are then used for the analysis of income and labour force developments.

1990 The German Institute for Economic Research clearly disapproves a monetary union with the former GDR. In the case of a monetary union, the only way for the GDR to compensate their difference in productivity would be a significant decrease of the wage level. A unification of wage levels would lead to mass dismissals and enormous business shutdowns. The GDR people would become welfare recipients of the Federal Republic of Germany.

1994 On behalf of Greenpeace, the German Institute for Economic Research analyses the economic consequences of an ecological fiscal reform. The model of ecotax, short for ecological taxation, has been enacted in Germany by means of three laws in following years.

2000 Prof. Dr. Klaus F. Zimmermann becomes new President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). From now on, there are seven Research Departments. Thus, DIW Berlin is able to react flexible to new respective current economic and social political topics. Main focus of economic research is now lying upon information society and competition, public economics and innovation. The Insitute also aims at increasing its number of international cooperations and its participiation in research networks worldwide.

[edit] Presidents of the German Institute for Economic Research

1925 – 1945 Ernst Wagemann

1945 – 1968 Ferdinand Friedensburg

1968 – 1974 Klaus-Dieter Arndt

1975 – 1979 Karl Koenig

1979 – 1988 Hans-Juergen Krupp

1988 – 1999 Lutz Hoffmann

since 2000 Klaus F. Zimmermann

[edit] Literature

Silke Anger Overtime Work in Germany. The Investment Character of Unpaid Hours Shaker 2006.

Rainer Winkelmann, Klaus F. Zimmermann Can Germany Stand up to International Locational Competition? Duncker und Humblot 2005.

Klaus F. Zimmermann European Migration: What Do We Know? Oxford University Press. Oxford/New York 2005.

Marco Caliendo Microeconometric Evaluation of Labour Market Policies Springer, 2005.

Brigitte Preissl, Harry Bouwman and Charles Steinfield E-Life after the Dot Com Bust Physica-Verlag, 2004.

Janet Zollinger Giele and Elke Holst: Changing Life Patterns in Western Industrial Societies (Advances in Life Course Research). 2003.

[edit] References

  1. ^ German government Web site Bundesregierung Online (German)
  2. ^ The HWWA was dissolved as of December 31, 2006. Some of its work will be continued by the Hamburgisches WeltWirtschaftsInstitut (HWWI).

[edit] External links

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