The Mood from the Boardroom – Who answers the Questionnaires of the ifo Business Survey?

To be able to draw meaningful and reliable conclusions about the German economy and its various sectors, the survey results of the ifo Business Survey must meet several criteria. Among other things, the questions posed must ask for suitable variables and be formulated in a neutral and comprehensible way. In addition, the panel of participating companies must be large enough and roughly reflect the actual structure of the German economy in terms of economic sectors, regions, and company sizes. This must be the case to avoid distortions in the results. Section 2.7 shows that the ifo Business Survey meets these conditions and that the panel is representative of the German economy.