Big Data Economics

Big Data Economics

New insights through innovative datasets? Answers to economic questions in real time? With the help of new data sources and methods and thanks to collaboration with companies and public administration, research questions can be addressed faster, more precisely, and in greater depth.

Large, complex, and innovative datasets from a wide variety of sources open up numerous possibilities for applied economic research and serve as an innovative basis for evidence-based policy advice. Corresponding data originates, for example, from collaboration with companies and public administration and from other research fields. With the help of such new data sources and state-of-the-art statistical methods, key economic questions can be addressed faster, more precisely, and in greater depth. The ifo Institute focuses its activities in Big Data Economics on five core areas: company data, big data from public administration, image and text files, web scraping, and new methods. In doing so, the ifo Institute attaches great importance to data protection and to protecting the interests of its partners, as well as to transparency and its scientific independence.

“Big data and business data offer huge opportunities to answer economic research questions in new and better ways. With their help, economic development can be examined closer to the current point in time, making it easier to determine the differences between various groups of households, companies, or regions.”

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Clemens Fuest, President ifo Institute

Logo des LMU-ifo Economics Business Data Center
Overview

The Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC) is a combined platform for empirical research in business administration and economics of the Ludwig–Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and the ifo Institute. It aims to open up new fields for empirical research in business administration and economics.

Here you can find all research datasets offered by the EBDC including documentation as well as the data repository.

Our Big Data Researchers

Our researchers are leveraging the power of Big Data Economics for a wide range of research questions, from the effects of working from home and the impact of real estate market regulations to consumption shifts due to the Corona pandemic. Get to know our colleagues.

Prof. Dr. Carla Krolage

ifo Research Director
  • Big Data Economics
  • Economic and Fiscal Policy
  • Firm Data
  • Public Finance
  • Real Estate
Portrait Dr. Carla Krolage

Dr. Anna Kerkhof

Economist
  • Media Economics
  • Industrial Organization
  • Scientific Coordinator Working Papers Publications
CV Foto von Anna Kerkhof

Moritz Goldbeck

Junior Economist and Doctoral Student
  • Economics of Innovation
  • Globalization
  • Industrial Organization
CV Foto von Moritz Goldbeck

Lena Abou El-Komboz

Junior Economist and Doctoral Student
  • Economics of Innovation
  • Industrial Organization
CV Foto von Lena Abou El-Komboz

Victor Tuekam

Junior Economist and Doctoral Student
  • LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC)
CV Foto von Victor Tuekam

Jean-Victor Alipour

Economist
  • Applied Microeconomics
  • Labor Economics
  • Political Economy
Jean-Victor Alipour

Valentin Reich

Senior Big Data Engineer
  • LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC)
Valentin Reich

Florian Schoner

Junior Economist and Doctoral Student
  • Economics of Education
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Applied Econometrics
CV Foto von Florian Schoner

Dr. Klaus Gründler

Deputy Director of the ifo Center for Public Finance and Political Economy
  • Political Economy
  • Applied Econometrics
  • Data Science
  • Inequality
  • Economic Growth
Dr. Klaus Gründler

Dr. Mathias Dolls

Deputy Director of the ifo Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys and Head of Inequality and Redistribution
  • Public Economics
  • Taxation and Redistribution
  • Fiscal Policy
Dr. Mathias Dolls

David Gstrein

Junior Economist and Doctoral Student
  • Public Economics
  • Political Economy
  • Inequality
Portrait David Gstrein

Dr. Florian Neumeier

Head of the Research Group Taxation and Fiscal Policy
  • Public Finance
  • Political Economics
  • Macroeconomics
CV Foto Dr. Florian Neumeier

Dr. Feodora Teti

Deputy Director of the ifo Center for International Economics
  • International Trade
  • Development Economics
Dr. Feodora Teti, ifo Zentrum für Außenwirtschaft

Maria Waldinger, Ph.D.

Deputy Director of the ifo Center for Labor and Demographic Economics
  • Environmental Economics
  • Economic History
CV Foto von Maria Waldinger

Justyna Klejdysz

Junior Economist and Doctoral Student
  • Public Economics
  • Behavioral Responses to Taxation
  • Natural Language Processing
  • Machine Learning
CV Foto von Justyna Klejdysz

Oana Garbasevschi

Doctoral Student
  • Analysis of socio-economic inequalities at a global scale using remote sensing and geospatial data
CV Foto von Oana Garbasevschi

Anna Hasselqvist

Junior Economist and Doctoral Student
  • Labor Economics
  • Economics of Education
  • Family Economics
CV Foto von Anna Hasselqvist

Dr. Sebastian Wichert

Head of the LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC, Research Data Center)
  • Big Data Economics
  • Firm Data
  • Health Economics
  • Innovation Economics
  • LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC)
Dr. Sebastian Wichert

Our Activities in Big Data Economics

Video

Big Data Economics through Collaborating with Firms: How to Make it Work?

Video

Who Bears the Burden of Real Estate Transfer Taxes?

Video

The Future of Work and Consumption in Cities after the Pandemic: First Evidence from Germany

Video

Die Bedeutung von Daten für die Politikberatung am Beispiel der Corona-Pandemie

Video

The (Non-)Use of Administrative Data in German Tax Research

Video

Use of Administrative Data in Norwegian Economics Research: Exemplified by a Discussion of the Norwegian Wealth Tax

Core Aspects of our Collaboration with our Partners

Data Protection

The ifo Institute takes data protection and the protection of the interests of its partners, in particular the protection of personal data, very seriously. We use anonymized data in our statistical evaluations, which at no time reveals individual information about specific persons, transactions, or companies.
Thanks to our accredited EBDC research data center, we have extensive expertise in the processing of sensitive data and access to secure, monitored data workstations.
All statistical evaluations are carried out in strict compliance with well-documented, coordinated, regularly updated, and monitored technical and organizational measures and in accordance with all legal requirements, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as contractual agreements.

Good Scientific Practice

Scientific integrity and independence are key to the way we work. We work in accordance with the German Research Foundation’s Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice, and we conduct our research in a scientifically independent, open-ended, and transparent manner.

Contact

Are you interested in talking about opportunities for us to collaborate with your company or institution? Please feel free to contact us!

Portrait Dr. Carla Krolage

Prof. Dr. Carla Krolage

ifo Research Director
Dr. Sebastian Wichert

Dr. Sebastian Wichert

Head of the LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC, Research Data Center)
Tel
+49(0)89/9224-1507
Fax
+49(0)89/985369
Mail