The German Institute for Economic Research (), or, more commonly DIWBerlin, is a economic research institute in Germany, involved in basic research and policy advice. It is a non-profit academic institution, financed with public grants from the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Technology and Research and the Federal Department for Economics and Technology. DIW Berlin was founded in 1925 as the Institute for Business Cycle Research and took its current name in 1943.
DIW Berlin presents its research results in science journals, within the scope of national and international scientific events as well as at workshops, symposia and colloquia. Current economic and structural data, forecasts and advice as well as services in the area of quantitative economics are provided to decision makers in economics and policy and the broad public. Furthermore, the research results often meet with a major response in the news media.
Leadership and organisation
The legal status of DIW Berlin is that of a registered association. The association's bodies are the Members, the Board of Trustees, the Executive Board and the Scientific Advisory Board. To date, there are 185 employees, 102 of them being researchers.
Executive board
Marcel Fratzscher
Angelica E. Röhr
Stefan Liebig
Research departments
The institute is divided into ten research departments, which are:
The Department of Macroeconomics focuses on the empirical and theoretical analysis of aggregate economic developments as well as national and international economic policy. The Department Forecasting and Economic Policy uses modern macroeconomic methods to analyze economic policy issues. Economic forecasting is a key component of the department's work. The Department of International Economics focuses on monetary and financial issues affecting the global economy. It concentrates on two key activities: examining international financial markets in terms of their economic functionality and analyzing the contribution of financial development to the goal of shared growth in developing and emerging countries. The Department of Energy, Transportation and Environment researches different strategies of sustainable development in energy, transportation and the environment in order to formulate sound policy recommendations. The Department Climate Policy uses empirical and theoretical methods to explore Germany and Europe's transition to sustainable energy—for example, by analyzing policies related to energy efficiency in buildings as well as the shift to sustainable, climate-friendly power production. The Department of Competition and Consumers aims to produce robust evidence of how society and markets function. Its research combines approaches from industrial economics with behavioral and experimental economics, thus enabling a comprehensive analysis of strategic interactions, market allocations, and human behavior. The Department of Firms and Markets analyzes firms’ strategic behavior and its impact on efficiency, productivity, and growth as well as the institutional and political environment in which firms operate. The Department of Public Economics analyzes how financial, fiscal, and social policies influence economic decisions made by individuals, households, and companies. The Department of Education and Family explores education and family-related issues primarily from a microeconomic perspective. One key question is the extent to which it is possible to fully develop the human potential of a country's economy. The Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) is a research-based infrastructure facility at DIW Berlin funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and state governments. The SOEP is one of the world's largest and longest-running surveys of individuals and private households. Numerous studies based on SOEP data examine mechanisms behind the distribution of social resources. Service departments Communications Information Technology Library Management Services Office Management Legal Department and Human Resources