Hamburg World Economic Archive

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The Hamburg World Economic Archive ( HWWA for short ) in Hamburg was an independent, state-funded economic research institute with a large specialist library and documentation. Until the end of 2006, the HWWA was one of the six major economic institutes in the Federal Republic of Germany. On January 1, 2007, the library work area of ​​the HWWA was merged with the German Central Library for Economics (ZBW).

history

Headquarters of the HWWA on Neuer Jungfernstieg in Hamburg

In 1908 the archive was founded as the central research center of the “ Colonial Institute ” in Hamburg. Its tasks consisted initially of providing information on economic and social development, especially in overseas countries, for business, science, the media and the state administration. After 1945 the HWWA was initially located in the Alte Post building and began to conduct its own research. The institute later moved to the former Esso building on Jungfernstieg and was renamed "HWWA Institute for Economic Research" in 1970 in the course of an increasingly expanding field of activity in economic and political consulting . The institute already had the last valid name of Hamburg World Economic Archive after the First World War. Since June 2000 the institute has been a foundation under public law. The HWWA was dissolved on December 31, 2006 by the Foundation Dissolution Act.

Directors and presidents of the HWWA from 1945

Structures

It was an institute of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community , formerly the “Blue List”. Half of it was financed by the federal government and half by the federal states. As with all institutes of the Leibniz Association, only the federal-state commission for educational planning and research funding decided on the funding .

The HWWA consisted of an information area and a research area . A user advisory board supported the work of the information area. The research activities and the services were accompanied by a scientific advisory board.

The information area consisted of the library, documentation and information services departments. The publicly accessible press documentation was a special feature . The workforce was around 80 employees (as of 2005).

The scientific public relations work of the research area consisted of the publication of economic policy journals ( Wirtschaftsdienst und Intereconomics ), periodical reports and the Hamburg yearbook for economic and social policy .

The pursuit of the set goals was carried out by seven research departments, each with three to four research groups. The seven departments were: International Currency Development, World Economy and Raw Material Markets, Economic Area Europe, Migration , World Trade and Development, Climate Policy and the cross-sectional focus “Germany 2030”. The workforce in the research area was around 70 employees (as of 2005).

Information area (library / documentation)

The information area of ​​the institute with the departments library, documentation and information services with its extensive literature collections and its services not only served the research work of the institute, but was also available to the public locally and nationally (online databases) in accordance with the basic mission of the institute.

The information area of ​​the HWWA was integrated into the German Central Library for Economic Sciences on January 1, 2007 and supplements the previous focus of the ZBW, which was on economics , with literature on business administration and industry literature .

Research area

The division of labor approach placed the emphasis on researching the interdependence of economic development in the Federal Republic and its global economic interdependencies. The range of research carried out e.g. Partly carried out as contract research, ranged from sector-specific analyzes of the world economy, international trade policy, problems relating to the global economic integration of developing countries and the economic policy of the EU countries, to smaller analyzes of the economic structure and development in northern Germany. International climate research and migration research had emerged as special focuses.

Since 1989 the developments in the new federal states and the transformation processes in the Central and Eastern European countries have been added to the scope of the HWWA. On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics, the development of competition in the new federal states was observed and the economic and social development and regulatory changes in the Baltic states were documented and processed.

resolution

In June 2003, the HWWA was regularly evaluated by the Leibniz Association . The WGL evaluation report that was subsequently created and accessible online criticized the management level of the HWWA information area several times . The WGL Senate then recommended in March 2004 to the Federal and State Commission for Educational Planning and Research Promotion to incorporate the library work area into the German Central Library for Economics in Kiel. A recommendation for the research part was postponed to a later date.

In June 2005, the Senate of the Leibniz Association made a final recommendation on the HWWA research area that the HWWA should not be further funded as an independent institution and that its research departments should not be integrated into the Institute for World Economy . On the basis of this recommendation, the Federal and State Commission for Educational Planning and Research Funding decided on November 21, 2005 to let the funding expire at the end of 2006.

The dissolution was dissolved on December 31, 2006 by the Foundation Dissolution Act. The information area was integrated into the German Central Library for Economics (ZBW) on January 1, 2007. Parts of the research area are continued in the HWWI , which was founded in 2005.

literature

  • Straubhaar, Thomas: Economization of the education system, in: Wirtschaftsdienst (Heidelberg). - Heidelberg / Tübingen. - 85. 2005, 2. - p. 62f., 2005.
  • Straubhaar, Thomas: Europe at the crossroads, in: Intereconomics . - Berlin / Heidelberg a. a. - 40. 2005, 3. - pp. 118f., 2005.
  • Straubhaar, Thomas: Germany lacks a vision 2020, in: Wirtschaftsdienst (Heidelberg). - Heidelberg / Tübingen. - 84. 2004, 10. - p. 606f., 2004.
  • Leveknecht, Helmut: 90 years of HWWA. From the central office of the Hamburg Colonial Institute to the HWWA Foundation. A Chronicle, ed. v. HWWA, Hamburg 1998.

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