German Institute for Economic Research

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German Institute for Economic Research
German Institute for Economic Research
German Institute for Economic Research
Category: Economic Research Institute
Carrier: none (legally independent registered association )
Membership: Leibniz Association
Facility location: Berlin
Type of research: Applied research
Subjects: Economics / Sociology
Basic funding: Federal government (50%), states (50%)
Management: Marcel Fratzscher
Employee: around 334 (including 139 scientists)
Homepage: www.diw.de
DIW Berlin at Mohrenstrasse 58 in Berlin-Mitte

The German Institute for Economic Research ( DIW ), based in Berlin, is the largest German economic research institute. It was founded in 1925 by Ernst Wagemann as the Institute for Business Cycle Research (IfK) and received its current name a few years later. According to its own account, it carries out applied research in the field of economics and economic policy advice. According to its own information, the institute employed 334 people in 2013, including 139 scientists . The institution is a member of the Leibniz Association .

Indicators and data

The DIW business barometer is a monthly indicator of the current economic development in Germany, an estimated value that is collected using indicators such as production and sales in important areas of the economy. In addition, an attempt is made to predict the economic situation on the basis of the economic development published on a quarterly basis .

Energy balances for the Federal Government of Germany are published together with EEFA GmbH & Co. KG (EEFA stands for Energy Environment Forecast Analysis ). They provide an overview of the German energy industry and provide information on the consumption of energy sources in the individual sectors and their path from generation to use.

The construction volume calculation shows the entire domestic construction output of the main construction and finishing trades , the manufacturing industry , including metal construction , prefabricated buildings, electrotechnical systems and facilities, as well as ancillary construction services ( planners , architects, etc.) as well as contributions by investors and contributions from the shadow economy. The construction volume is differentiated according to type of construction: residential construction , building construction and civil engineering in the corporate sector as well as public building construction , road construction and other civil engineering . The data is created on behalf of the Federal Institute for Building, Urban and Spatial Research in the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning ; The funding is provided as part of the “Future Building” research initiative of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development .

The calculation of traffic statistical data is published as Traffic in Numbers on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development .

The Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) is a representative repeat survey of around 11,000 private households in Germany and is collected by TNS Infratest .

From 2006 to 2010, a BVL / DIW logistics indicator was also collected in cooperation with the Federal Logistics Association . The indicator was based on a quarterly expert survey of the 200 largest German companies, including logistics service providers and users from industry and trade, on the state of the logistics industry . The indicator has been calculated there since Stefan Kooths moved to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy .

Publications

The weekly report has been published since 1928 and offers compressed information and comments on current economic policy issues on a weekly basis. Individual articles appear in the DIW Economic Bulletin in English translation.

The quarterly economic research issues present current economic policy issues and economic controversies. They have been published by Duncker & Humblot since 1926 .

In the DIW Roundup , scientists from the institute present the status of the discussions in their respective fields of work and classify findings from current research. The publication appears online only.

The discussion papers present current research results that are about to be published.

The DIW Berlin: Political Advice Compact series reports on completed research projects, prepared for practical economic policy use.

The quarterly English-language magazine Applied Economics Quarterly (AEQ) publishes empirical research articles in all economic areas, including social policy, labor market, trade, growth and more. It emerged from the economic policy series and is published by Klaus F. Zimmermann at Duncker & Humblot .

In the ranking for economic research institutes from the RePEc project, sorted by citations , the DIW was ranked 60th (worldwide) in July 2014.

Events

A joint series of seminars with the OECD Berlin Center and the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) is called Berlin Lunchtime Meetings . In this series of events, current economic research results are presented to the public and discussed with representatives from politics, associations and business.

An industry conference has been held twice a year since 1960 . It deals with the development of the German economy, especially the manufacturing industry. Representatives from companies, industry associations and scientists meet.

Further events are the DIW Business Review, the DIW Panel Series and a SOEPcampus.

Research priorities

According to its organizational chart, the core tasks of the DIW are in the following research areas and associated departments:

  • Macroeconomics and Financial Markets
  • sustainability
  • Industrial economics
    • Companies and markets (behavior of companies and consequences for growth, efficiency and productivity as well as institutional and political framework conditions under which companies operate)
    • Competition and consumers
    • Entrepreneurship working group
  • Public finances and life situations
    • State (German tax and social policy)
    • Education and family
    • Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, see below)
    • Research Group Gender Studies (see below)

The research-based infrastructure unit longitudinal study “Socio-Economic Panel” (SOEP, see also Socio-Economic Panel ) is an annual repeat survey of Germans, foreigners and immigrants in the old and new federal states that has been running since 1984. In the survey year 2008, the sample comprised almost 11,000 households with around 20,000 people. The main topics of the SOEP are household composition, employment and family biographies, income trends, health and life satisfaction.

In 2010 gender studies were started, which aims to research the gender influence in all economic areas.

The DIW economic forecasts and the DIW economic barometer were involved in the joint forecast of the six leading German economic research institutes until 2007 . On July 3, 2007, the Federal Ministry of Economics announced that the DIW would not be involved in the joint economic forecasts for the next three years. "The economic forecast is not the supreme discipline of economics" puts DIW President Zimmermann into perspective and refers to the institute's international advisory skills. In 2013, DIW Berlin was once again included in the group of economic research institutes, which together create the joint diagnosis.

DIW Graduate Center

The DIW Graduate Center (GC) is a competence center for training and further education at DIW Berlin. It organizes the training of doctoral candidates and offers structured doctoral studies in the field of economics. Outstanding young scientists from all over the world are promoted to doctorate within four years. In close cooperation with the Berlin universities, the doctoral students receive an education with a demanding lecture program. You will work with the research departments of DIW Berlin, gain international experience at the highest level and learn to advise politics and business.

DIW Econ

DIW Berlin founded a wholly owned subsidiary in 2007 that offers economic advice to private customers, associations and international institutions as well as public clients. DIW Econ GmbH thus complements the parent institute, which is more oriented towards basic research, with more application-oriented offers and strengthens the transfer of knowledge to the private sector and public institutions.

Institute director

The following economists have led the institute since it was founded:

Surname Period function
Ernst Wagemann 1925 to 1945 director
Ferdinand Friedensburg 1945 to 1968 president
Klaus Dieter Arndt 1968 to 1974 president
Karl King 1975 to 1979 president
Hans-Jürgen Krupp 1979 to 1988 president
Lutz Hoffmann 1988 to 1999 president
Klaus F. Zimmermann 2000 to 2011 president
Gert G. Wagner 2011 to 2013 CEO
Marcel Fratzscher since 2013 president

Institute headquarters

financing

The public grants that DIW Berlin receives as research funding in equal parts from the State of Berlin (Senate Department for Science, Research and Culture) and from the federal government (Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor) make up about half of the institute's budget. In addition, there is income from projects and orders from third parties as well as contributions from members of the Board of Trustees and donations. Due to the way it is financed, DIW is a member of the Leibniz Association , incorporated in Section B - Economics and Social Sciences, Spatial Sciences.

Controversy

Klaus Zimmermann era

In 2004 there was a conflict between the head of the institute at the time, Klaus Zimmermann, and the head of the economic department, Gustav Horn , after Horn, in his analysis, deviating from Zimmermann's expressed views, assessed Agenda 2010 largely critically. Zimmermann then had Horn assessed by Michael Burda , who rejected the scientific orientation of the economic department in the brief report. Despite the protests of leading European economic research institutes and the solidarity of DIW employees with Horn, Horn was dismissed at the end of 2004.

In 2007, the DIW was no longer involved in the joint diagnosis during the redistribution , after the ministry expressed reservations about the institute's performance due to the departure of qualified employees from the DIW.

In November 2010, a study by the DIW came to the conclusion that there was no shortage of skilled workers in Germany . The position in the study carried out under Karl Brenke thus stood in contrast to statements by Zimmermann and the employers' associations, which, among other things, justified longer working hours with the shortage of skilled workers. Zimmermann then delayed the publication of the study and revised it in-house. A consensus version of the study compatible with Zimmermann's position was later published.

Due to a first audit in the era of DIW boss Klaus Zimmermann, the State Audit Office accused DIW of misuse of public funds at the end of 2009. With a counter-opinion from the law firm Hogan & Hartson Raue and the help of communications consultant Klaus-Peter Schmidt-Deguelle , Zimmermann defended himself against the accusations of the Court of Auditors.

Doing Better for Families

In May 2011, the journalist Maike Rademaker pointed out that the DIW had tacitly corrected the child poverty rate. The OECD published the DIW's original high quota in its report “Doing Better for Families” three weeks before the 2009 federal election . This led to an intense debate about child poverty and, as a result, to an increase in child benefit as of January 1, 2010. The problem lay in the data collection: If one or more household members refused to provide information about the income, their income flowed with 0 EUR in the calculation of the risk of poverty. The DIW corrected this calculation method so that the child poverty rate fell from 16.3% to below 10%. The DIW rejects any manipulation or restraint of the figures in a press release.

Berlin on the way to 2030

In December 2019, the DIW published a study entitled "Berlin on the way to 2030" in the series DIW Berlin: Political Advice Compact . This showed a rate of 4.4 murders per 100,000 inhabitants for Berlin. In January 2020, the journalist Tobias Wilke pointed out that this high murder rate, which has been adopted by many newspapers, is wrong. The number published by the OECD on deliberate killings in Berlin, which the DIW incorrectly interpreted as the murder rate, contains not only murders, but also attempted killings and other offenses. In a press release in January 2020, the DIW then corrected its study and referred to the implausible statistics of the OECD , but without pointing out its own scientific misconduct.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Association of Friends of DIW Berlin (VdF). DIW, accessed on May 31, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Wissenschaftsrat rates the research quality of the SOEP as “excellent”. idw , April 18, 2008, accessed May 31, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Philip Plickert: DIW boss Zimmermann resigns. In: FAZ.net . February 1, 2011, accessed December 12, 2014 .
  4. ↑ (DIW Association) Articles of Association. DIW, January 31, 2013, accessed May 31, 2013 .
  5. ^ DIW Berlin: People at DIW. Retrieved August 18, 2014 .
  6. ↑ What is the BVL / DIW logistics indicator? diw.de, accessed on February 16, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Logistics indicator in cooperation with the Institute for World Economy (IfW) at the University of Kiel. bvl.de ( Bundesvereinigung Logistik ), accessed on February 16, 2016 (English).
  8. ↑ DNB 011136618
  9. ↑ Top 10% Economic Institutions, as of July 2014. IDEAS.RePEc.org , accessed on August 18, 2014 (English).
  10. ^ DIW Berlin: Events. Retrieved August 18, 2014 .
  11. ↑ https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.619640.de/diw_jahresbericht_2018.pdf Annual Report 2018, page 18, accessed on January 8, 2020
  12. ↑ Ministry orders joint diagnosis without DIW . ( Memento from July 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ftd.de
  13. ↑ Research-based policy advice - what else? (PDF; 187 kB) In: DIW weekly report , No. 15/2010 of April 14, 2010.
  14. ^ Joint forecast 2013–2016: The participants have been determined . Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, press release, June 7, 2013.
  15. ^ Annual report of DIW Berlin 2013, page 50
  16. ↑ diw-econ.de
  17. ↑ Overview of the director of the DIW Berlin. DIW, accessed on June 22, 2013 .
  18. ^ The era of Ferdinand Friedensburg . DIW
  19. ^ Founding of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR . DIW
  20. ^ The DIW in the 21st century . DIW
  21. ↑ Dismissal at DIW triggers international protests . In: Financial Times Deutschland , June 18, 2004. The expulsion of economic chief Gustav Horn could prove fatal for the institute . In: Financial Times Deutschland , June 18, 2004. A report by Berlin economics professor Michael Burda brings down the economic director of the DIW Institute . In: Berliner Zeitung , June 17, 2004. Crash in DIW. Zimmermann fires Horn after a bad night in Burda. (No longer available online.) In: Excerpts from the articles on BerliNews. June 18, 2004, archived from the original on February 18, 2009 ; Retrieved April 2, 2011 .
  22. ↑ DIW threatens to be excluded from the joint diagnosis . ( Memento from January 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Financial Times Deutschland , June 25, 2007
  23. ↑ Zimmermann's Egg Dance . Frankfurter Rundschau, November 17, 2010; What doesn't fit is made to fit . Spiegel Online , November 18, 2010.
  24. ↑ Axel Schrinner: DIW threatens serious financial scandal. In: handelsblatt.com. December 11, 2009, accessed December 12, 2014 .
  25. ↑ "Affected and injured". In: tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved December 12, 2014 .
  26. ↑ Maike Rademaker: Incorrect statistics: child poverty only half as high as expected . In: Financial Times Germany . May 6, 2011 ( ftd.de ( memento of July 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) [accessed on May 26, 2011]). Incorrect statistics: Child poverty only half as high as expected ( memento of the original from July 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ftd.de
  27. ^ Doing Better for Families. OECD , accessed May 31, 2013 .
  28. ↑ Lydia Harder, Eckart Lohse: Numbers the goods - child poverty in Germany . In: FAZ . May 26, 2011 ( faz.net ).
  29. ↑ Our numbers got better with the new methods . DIW Berlin, May 6, 2011; Retrieved May 6, 2011
  30. ^ Berlin on the way to the year 2030 . DIW Berlin, December 20, 2019; accessed January 6, 2020
  31. ↑ The AfD "celebrates" the supposedly devastating murder rate in red-red-green Berlin . Tobias Wilke, January 5, 2020; accessed February 1, 2020
  32. ↑ Berlin is not a murder metropolis in Europe . Stefan Niggemeier, January 6, 2020; accessed February 1, 2020
  33. ↑ Capital city study uses implausible murder rate for Berlin from OECD regional statistics - core statements of the report remain . DIW Berlin, January 7, 2020; accessed February 1, 2020

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 44 ″  N , 13 ° 23 ′ 19.3 ″  E