About us

• Our Task
• Advising Policy Makers
• Providing Facts and Opinions
• Serving our Members
• Organization

 

 

Our Task

The Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln is Germany’s leading private economic research institute. We stand for a free market economy. We believe in competition and entrepreneurship.

 

Our task is to promote a better understanding of economic and social processes among politicians, opinion makers and the general public. We analyze facts, reveal trends, explain economic developments and publish our proposals.

 

Our research intends to initiate debate. As market economists we are committed to developing the best possible strategies for the German economy and German economic policy.

 

Advising Policy Makers

 

How does Germany cope with globalization? What can be done to encourage investment? How do we create new jobs

? Which qualifications are needed in the labor market? These are only a few of the many questions which our two research departments – Labor Market Policy and Educational Policy as well as Economic Policy and Social Policy – tackle and answer. Covering a wide range of different fields, we develop ideas and recommend policies for a better future of Germany.

 

Providing Facts and Opinions

 

Communication with academics, business people, journalists, politicians, students or workers needs varying approaches. For each group we present our findings in a way that matches the background and needs of our readers.

 

Our economists and experts also serve as advisors, work for commissions, give testimony to parliamentary committees and government bodies. We address conferences and give interviews to newspapers and on radio and television.

 

Serving our Members

We provide a wide range of services to our members and friends. We deliver brief information or carry out detailed research. Our members can use our library and archives. We offer editorial and PR services, organize and manage events. All our services are delivered with the professionalism which is the hallmark of our institute.

 

Organization

 

The Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln is a registered non-profit organization. Our members are employers’ and industrial associations as well as individual companies across most sectors of the economy. The approximately 300 employees of the institute and its publishing house work at our headquarter in Cologne, our capital office in Berlin and our liaison office in Brussels, the seat of the European Commission. IW supports career perspectives for employees with children.

 

The institute is governed by a Presiding Committee and a Supervisory Board of Directors which represent the membership. Both bodies are honorary and are elected for a two-year-term by the General Assembly of Members. In addition, there is an Advisory Board consisting of friends of the institute from various areas of public life. Everyday operations are directed by a full-time executive board, headed by the Director General, who is also a member of the Presiding Committee.