ifo Investment Database

Content

Investments are an essential driver of the economic growth of an economy. Detailed studies on structural changes in investment activities of industries therefore provide key insights into economic trends and help to identify shifts in the importance of industries and capital goods. For this kind of analysis detailed investment time series are required, which is not available is due to the limited data in many sectors. The ifo Investment Database therefore provides a unique tool for this kind of analysis. Using a variety of sources, the database compiles investment matrices by industry and asset groups for unified Germany starting back in 1991. Those matrices allow for descriptive analysis of the proportion of individual product groups in the investments of an industry. Thereby, the statistical framework is in its aggregates adjusted with the official statistics of the German Federal Statistical Office (WZ 2008 and GP2002). As a unique feature, the ifo Investment Database additionally provides a representation of investment time series for the owner and the user concept. Especially the latter is a useful extension to the common method of the ownership concept as it allows for changes in the financial aspects of businesses, such as increased use of leased capital goods in the production process. The statistical framework of the ifo Investment Database is updated annually and is available on an annual basis.
 

Methodology

Investment integration, RAS methods, separation into owner and user concept.
 

Data Sources

ifo Investment Survey of equipment leasing, ifo Business Surveys, German Federal Statistics Office, VDMA, ZVEI, German Federal Motor Vehicle and Transport Authority (KBA).
 

Results

The results are available free-of-charge to researchers at the LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC).
 

Publications

Kassner, Bernhard and Stefan Sauer, "Aktuelle Ergebnisse der ifo Investorenrechnung: Steigende Leasingquoten vor allem bei Fahrzeuginvestitionen", ifo Schnelldienst 70 (10), 2017, 30–32 | PDF Download

Sauer, Stefan, "Zur Bedeutung von Leasinginvestitionen in Deutschland: Aktuelle Ergebnisse der ifo Investorenrechnung", ifo Schnelldienst 69 (07), 2016, 43–46 | PDF Download

Strobel, Thomas, Stefan Sauer and Klaus Wohlrabe, "The Ifo Investment Database", CESifo Working Paper No. 4154, March 2013 | PDF Download

Strobel, Thomas, Stefan Sauer and Klaus Wohlrabe, ifo Investorenrechnung - Dokumentation von Quellen, Verarbeitung und Methodik, ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung 42, ifo Institut, 2012