Team
The people behind the ifo Institute offer the very high level of expertise and experience needed to fulfill our research and service mandate.
Municipal Politics
Municipal politics has a direct influence on the economic and social life of local citizens. Cities, municipalities, and districts are therefore of central importance when it comes to structural change, demographic development, and competition between locations. At the same time, municipalities in Germany are facing major challenges: scarce public funds, the modernization and digitalization of local government, persistent structural weakness, and a growing gap in demographic development between urban and rural areas.
Vocational Education 4.0
The digital transformation is a key technological trend that will change the world of labor in the future. Our research shows that people with a vocational education run the risk of losing their jobs later in life when demand for their occupation-specific skills fades over time due to technical and structural change. This creates a trade-off between early employment advantages and later employment risks for educational programs that train for work in a specific job which is particularly pronounced in apprenticeship countries.
Digital Tax
They earn billions in the EU – but pay hardly any taxes: this is the accusation against internet giants like Apple, Google, and Facebook. A number of initiatives aim to hold them more accountable. Under the current system, a foreign business’s profits are taxed where that business has a permanent physical presence, what is known as a permanent establishment. In addition to the tax on profits, there is also sales tax, which is levied where a business generates its sales. Of course, these rules also apply to companies with digital business models.
Pension
The aging of society poses major challenges for the statutory pension system in Germany in the coming decades. By the mid-2030s, the baby boomer generation will have gradually retired. What do these shifts mean for the statutory pension insurance system? What measures must be taken to make financing the system sustainable?
Brexit
Skepticism has always been a feature of the UK’s relationship with Europe, culminating with a referendum in 2016 when 51.9 percent of UK citizens voted to leave the European Union. This makes the United Kingdom the first member state in the history of the European Union to leave the international community. Following the official withdrawal on January 31, 2020, a transition period ran until the end of 2020. After nearly a year of negotiations, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was applied provisionally as of January 1, 2021, and entered into force on May 1, 2021.
Basic Security System
The German tax and transfer system is frequently criticized for being hostile to growth and incentives. International organizations such as the OECD regularly criticize the fact that people on low and moderate incomes in Germany have to shoulder too high a tax burden. Academic studies point out the problems in designing rules applicable to low incomes: The incentive to earn more is often wiped out by rules on how much of the additional gross income goes toward reducing the Hartz IV benefits and other benefits received. Currently, Hartz IV recipients are allowed to earn 100 euros per month without it having any impact on their benefit. People in marginal part-time employment, however, have very little financial incentive to increase their gross income. If they earn an additional 100 euros, they only get to keep 20 euros of it. In some areas a person's net income does not increase at all with the additional income they earn, and in other areas it even decreases.
Public Debt
As a result of the global financial crisis, debt levels in European economies have risen significantly: in the EU27, debt rose from 65.0 to 80.5 percent of GDP between 2008 and 2010, and to 86.6 percent by 2014. In the context of this rising public debt, some smaller and heavily indebted countries in Europe have come under increasing strain. In France, for example, public debt has since remained constant at over 95 percent, in Italy at over 130 percent, and in Greece at more than 180 percent of GDP.
Demography
As the population ages, there are fewer and fewer young people to finance pensions. A declining number of working-age people are generating the revenue that the welfare state uses to provide benefits. Companies must align their human resources policies with demographic change. In the long term, municipalities will also be forced to realign their services: if the population grows, they will have to build day-care centers and schools; if the population shrinks, they will have to make downward adjustments to public administration and infrastructure. It is precisely because demographic processes proceed so slowly that the socio-political challenges they bring tend to fade into the background. However, the earlier the facts and available options are brought to the table, the sooner such diverse change can be managed.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
It collects data, analyzes it, and can provide doctors with more precise information on the best possible patient care. It ensures driving safety in the road traffic of tomorrow. It helps decide whether we get the loan or not. Artificial intelligence (AI): the technology of the future is finding its way into work and everyday life. It is supposed to make our lives easier. However, it also harbors risks in areas including control, data protection, and job losses.
Equality of Opportunity
The topic of inequality in society is increasingly the focus of public debates. Apart from inequality of income and wealth, the topic also refers to missing equality of opportunity, which arises particularly in the education system. In fact, the association between educational achievement and socioeconomic background is particularly strong in Germany, indicating limited equality of opportunity for children from different social backgrounds.
Digital Infrastructure
Successful creation of powerful digital infrastructure is critical to the future viability and competitiveness of the European Economic Area. The internet – in close connection with other forms of information technology – has by now become firmly established in today’s manufacturing industry under the heading “Industry 4.0.” German industry is in a good position to begin utilizing the potential of data-driven business models in the Internet of Things.
The Energy Crisis
The price of electricity is rising, gas is becoming scarce, climate change is advancing: the current crises and geopolitical changes pose major challenges for energy policy. Do policymakers have to choose between securing the energy supply and protecting the climate? Should they keep nuclear power plants online longer than originally planned? Do we continue to plan for natural gas as a bridge technology? We need to speed up the expansion of renewables, increase energy efficiency, and expand infrastructures. Our focus is on bringing together insights on how to solve the acute crisis and shape the energy markets of the future.
Coronavirus
The coronavirus crisis began in China in late 2019 and has caused major health and economic damage worldwide. In the affected countries, it triggered both a supply shock and a demand shock, thus giving rise to the essential difficulty in the economic management of the coronavirus.
EU Reforms
The European Union is a success story for Europe. However, the process of European unification has stalled. Economic development is diverging in some countries of the EU and dissatisfaction with the central institution is growing in many places. In addition, the EU is facing new and sometimes greater challenges today than it did a few years ago. The consequences of the euro crisis, the migration crisis, climate change, Brexit, and most recently, the coronavirus crisis require new approaches to solutions and have triggered sometimes intense debates about reforms and the future role of the EU.
Funding Policy
Regional disparities in income and employment opportunities, infrastructure, mobility, education, and health are sometimes very pronounced both in Europe and within Germany. Funding policy is therefore a key lever for supporting the development of economically and structurally weaker regions and for creating equal living conditions.
Central Abitur
In recent months, there has been an increasingly intense debate about the need for comparable exit examinations throughout Germany. Taken at the end of secondary school, the exit exam or Abitur has German pupils demonstrate their readiness for higher education and is required for access to the university system. Over the past 60 years, the number of pupils who take the exam has steadily risen.
War in Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is not only a military and geopolitical turning point. It is also changing the economic situation. This affects both the short-term economic trend and the medium-term prospects for growth and prosperity.