The LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC)

The LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC) is the joint Research Data Center (RDC) of the ifo Institute, the LMU Munich’s Department of Economics, and the LMU Munich School of Management. It was founded in 2008 with the financial support of LMU’s long-term strategy program “LMUexcellent”. In 2011, the EBDC was accredited as an RDC by the German Data Forum (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten (RatSWD)). Therefore, the EBDC provides non-discriminatory access to its research data free of charge, is subject to annual monitoring, and participates in a standardized, impartial mechanism for resolving user complaints, among other things. In 2014, micro-data from official statistics became available at the EBDC through cooperation with the Bavarian State Office for Statistics. The EBDC is well connected in the research data sphere in Germany and beyond: It is i.a. part of the national research data infrastructure (NFDI), the Statistik Netzwerk Bayern as well as Leibniz research network “LeibnizData”. In these networks, the EBDC and its partners are promoting better access to and linking of research data. In order to better address the growing importance of research data and the diverse tasks it has taken on since its foundation, the EBDC has been continuously expanded in terms of personnel and infrastructure and has become an independent researchoriented infrastructure and service center within the ifo Institute since 2022.