ifo Media Center

Energy and Climate

Climate change and dwindling resources pose major challenges for society. The ifo Center for Energy, Climate, and Resources advocates sustainability and climate action.

Women and Family

The ifo Institute conducts in-depth research into equality of opportunity, work-life balance, and child development. An overview of the ifo Institute’s positioning, studies on the effects of social and family policy measures, and other topics on women and family.

The 2021 Election Year – New Start Marked by Major Challenges

The cover story in the ifo Annual Report 2021 provides an overview of the challenges facing this legislature as well as the ifo Institute’s recommendations.

ifo Annual Report 2021 – Highlights

In 2021, the ifo Institute paved the way for several key future projects. We have compiled a selection of the highlights from the annual report for you on the following pages.

An Interview with Clemens Fuest and Stephanie Dittmer - Annual Report 2021

In 2021, the ifo Institute turned its attention to the future. Its employees want to use big data to help them research pressing economic questions and explore the modernization of the social market economy.

Joint Economic Forecast

The Joint Economic Forecast analyses and forecasts the economic situation in Germany. The forecasts are conducted twice a year: one forecast is published in spring followed by another in autumn. The Joint Economic Forecasts act as a point of reference fort he forecasts made by the German federal government. The Joint Economic Forecast is a joint research project conducted by several economic research institutes. Their cooperation is characterised by a dialogue between different competing theoretical and methodical approaches, forming the best possible basis for analysis and forecasts.

ifo Export Expectations

The ifo Export Expectations, based on the ifo Business Survey, are a new indicator introduced by the ifo Institute in November 2014 to monitor and assess current and future developments in the export sector. The expectations focus on the export sector, are available on a timely basis, are not revised and offer a very good overview of developments in the export sector.

ifo Employment Barometer

The ifo Employment Barometer is based on ca. 9,500 monthly responses from businesses in manufacturing, construction, wholesaling, retailing and the services sector. The companies are asked to report on their employment plans for the coming three months.

ifoCAST Forecast

Bi-monthly, ifoCAST presents an assessment of the development of Germany’s current GDP growth and highlights changes in the forecast against the background of new information.

ifo Business Climate in Eastern Germany

The ifo Business Climate in Eastern Germany is based on ca. 1,200 monthly survey responses of firms in manufacturing, construction, wholesaling and retailing.

ifo Economic Forecast Eastern Germany and Saxony

The monitoring of economic activity has been one of the main tasks of io Dresden since its founding in 1993. In recent years a system for economic forecasting has been developed using data from the ifo Business Survey in Eastern Germany and Saxony.

ifo Business Climate Index for Saxony

Regional Evaluation for Saxony with ifo Business Climate for Industry and Trade for Saxony, ifo Employment Barometer for Saxony and ifo Business Climate for Saxony by Sector.

ifo Education Survey

The ifo Education Survey was developed by the ifo Center for the Economics of Education as part of the project “The political economy of education policy: Insights from an opinion survey” funded by the Leibniz Association. The ifo Education Survey is based on an annual public opinion survey of over 5,500 individuals who constitute a representative sample of Germany’s adult population.

ifo HR Survey

In the ifo Institute's HR -survey, around 1,000 HR managers in German HR departments are asked about current topics concerning HR policy. A special focus lies on the analysis of flexibilization instruments. The panel includes companies from the manufacturing, wholesale, retail and service sectors.

ifo and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Economists Panel

Every two months the ifo Institute and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) Economists Panel surveys a representative group of economics professors at German universities on current economic policy issues. The panel aims to offer the public a differentiated perspective on how economists see the key challenges facing Germany in the present and the future. The survey results are regularly published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Economic Experts Survey (EES)

The Economic Experts Survey (EES) is a quarterly survey of economic experts worldwide. The EES captures their assessment of the current economic policy and political performance as well as of special questions in their countries. The survey is jointly conducted by the ifo Institute and the Institute for Swiss Economic Policy.

GAME-LIGHTS – the gridded Meteorological Events and Night Light Emission Database

The GAME-LIGHTS database is a grid cell-level database covering a rich collection of variables for all counties worldwide from 1992 to 2013. The dataset collects information on meteorological events from primary information and translates them into weather anomalies on a 0.5° x 0.5° cell-level basis. GAME-LIGHTS covers storms, extreme temperature events, torrential rain and droughts on a yearly basis. It also adds information on night-time light emissions data and population data on the grid cell level.

The data provide a unique dataset for economic analysis as it contains variation which is presumably exogenous to economic outcomes. The service of GAME-LIGHTS is to provide the data in a structured way.

Climate Economics (VfS)

Economists will meet online from 26 to 29 September 2021 for the Annual Conference of the Verein für Socialpolitik, the association of German-speaking economists. Amongst them are many ifo researchers. In the ifo panel "From a Political Advisor to a Politician," Martin Kocher, Federal Minister of Labor of the Republic of Austria, talks about his recent experiences.

Oliver Falck Appointed to the BMBF’s Council for Technological Sovereignty

German Federal Minister of Education Anja Karliczek has appointed the Director of the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies, Oliver Falck, to the newly established Council for Technological Sovereignty of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Public Finance in the Era of the Covid-19 Crisis – International Institute of Public Finance Annual Congress

More than 300 international public finance economists will meet virtual for the 76th Annual Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF).