German Economic Institute
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[Translate to Englisch:] Direktion

Directorate

The German Economic Institute's director and his team carry out research addressing today's pressing issues.

This contains propositions concerning the Eurozone's future governance design as well as the digitization's current implementation and the ongoing structural change. Cooperating closely with the German Economic Institute's employees, the directorate members prepare scientific publications regarding diverse and fascinating topics. Thereby, the researchers take advantage of their interdisciplinary backgrounds and apply theoretical models as well as empirical analysis. Historical evidence is challenged by modern econometrics in order to derive concrete policy recommendations. With regard to contents, the work incorporates a wide range of subjects, be it the current structural change, German “Ordnungspolitik”, the past economic crisis or the capital market supervision.

Structural Change

The economy and society’s permanent changes affect the productivity growth of industries and entire economies. The institutes’ directorate is intensively deriving the digitization’s’ implications for different economic players and the entire economy. By and large, many different interactions behind the buzzwords “Industrie 4.0”, “demography”, “productivity” and the aspect of regional convergence are investigated.

Selected Publications

Hüther, Michael, 2016, Industrie 4.0 – unterschätzte Herausforderung oder überbewertete Modeerscheinung?, in: Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, 65(1)

Goecke, Henry / Hüther, Michael, 2016, Regional convergence in Europe, in: Intereconomics, Volume 51, May/June 2016, Number 3, pp. 165-171

Demary, Vera / Diermeier, Matthias, 2015, Fusionen und Übernahmen in der deutschen Industrie - Auf dem Weg zur Industrie 4.0?, in: IW Trends, 42(4)

Hüther, Michael / Naegele, Gerhard, 2012, Demografiepolitik: Herausforderungen und Handlungsfelder, Springer VS, Wiesbaden, Thesenpapier

"Ordnungspolitik", Institutions and Civil Society

German Ordnungspolitik and modern institutional economics' guidance can address market failure of all sorts. Especially, between developing and industrialized economies, substantial institutional differences prevail. Nevertheless, the European Union’s development represents only an imperfect role model for emerging economies – suitable institutions have to be derived country-specific.

Selected Publications

Hüther, Michael / Bergmann, Knut / Enste Dominik, 2015, Unternehmen im öffentlichen Raum – Zwischen Markt und Mitverantwortung, Springer VS Verlag, Wiesbaden

Diermeier Matthias / Hüther, Michael, 2015, Mit dem großen Hebel für mehr Investitionen: Ökonomische Bewertung des Juncker Plans, in: Wirtschaftsdienst, 95. Jahrgang, 2015, Heft 5, S.334-341

Hüther, Michael, 2014, Eine veränderte Kulisse globaler Risiken, in: Wirtschaftsdienst, 94. Jahrgang, 2014, Heft 12., S. 855-859

Hüther, Michael, 2012, Mitglied der Sachverständigenkommission des Ersten Engagementberichts: „Für eine Kultur der Mitverantwortung“, Erster Engagementbericht der Bundesregierung

Enste, Dominik / Hüther, Michael, 2012, Bürgerschaftliches Engagement der Unternehmen im öffentlichen Raum, in: ORDO Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Band 63, Begründet von Walter Eucken und Franz Böhm, Lucius & Lucius Verlag, Stuttgart, 2013, S. 293 – 323

Enste, Dominik / Hüther, Michael, 2011, Verhaltensökonomik und Ordnungspolitik – Zur Psychologie der Freiheit, in: IW Positionen, Nr. 50

International Economy, Crisis and Business Cycle

The ongoing economic crisis caused a structural uncertainty among economic actors. It remains highly unclear how Europe’s “New Normal” is going to look like. From secular stagnation to saw-tooth shaped business cycles or – worst case – the Eurozone’s breakdown, many scenarios are on the table.

Selected Publications

Bardt, Hubertus / Grömling, Michael / Hüther, Michael, 2015, Schwache Unternehmensinvestitionen in Deutschland? Diagnose und Therapie, in: Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik. Band 64, Heft 2, S. 224–250

Goecke, Henry, 2015, IW-Krisenmonitor, in: IW policy paper, 2/2015

Cholewa, Jan / Goecke, Henry / Grömling, Michael, 2015, IW-Konjunkturampel – Konzept, Daten und Evaluation, in: IW Trends, 42(2)

Hüther, Michael, 2012, Perspektiven für die Eurozone in der Krise: Chancen und Gefahren, in: IW policy paper, 8/2012

Capital Markets, Regulation and Monetary Policy

The capital market supervision’s tightened grip as well as the monetary policy’s quantitative easing affect the different capital market equilibria since the financial crisis. It often remains difficult to isolate the respective action’s specific outcomes, requiring a deepened analysis to derive efficient policy implications.

Selected Publications

Demary, Michael / Hüther, Michael, 2015, When Low Interest Rates Cause Low Inflation, in: Intereconomics, 50(6)

Demary, Markus / Diermeier, Matthias / Haas, Heide, 2015, A Capital Markets Union for Europe: The Relevance of Banks and Markets, in: IW policy papers, 18/2015

Deschermeier, Philipp / Hüther, Michael / Haas, Heide / Voigtländer, Michael, 2015, Die Bedeutung der Langfristfinanzierung durch Banken – Vorteile und zukünftige Herausforderungen, in: IW Analysen, Nr. 101

Hüther, Michael / Manfred Jäger / Hellwig, Martin / Hartman-Wendels, Thomas, 2009, Arbeitsweise der Bankenaufsicht vor dem Hintergrund der Finanzmarktkrise, Gutachten

Michael Hüther

Prof. Dr. Michael Hüther

Director and Member of the Presidium

Tel+49 221 4981-600

Mailhuether@iwkoeln.de

@michael_huether

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Matthias Diermeier

Matthias Diermeier

Personal Research Assistant of the Director

Tel+49 221 4981-605

Maildiermeier@iwkoeln.de

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Markos Jung

Dr. Markos Jung

Personal Research Assistant of the Director

Tel+49 221 4981-606

Mailjung@iwkoeln.de

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Ekaterina Jürgens

Ekaterina Jürgens

Student in the Directorate

Mailjuergens@iwkoeln.de

Claudia Behrens

Claudia Behrens

Assistant to the Director

Tel+49 221 4981 604

Mailbehrens@iwkoeln.de

Simone Schüttler

Simone Schüttler

Assistant to the Director

Tel+49 221 4981-601

Mailschuettler@iwkoeln.de

IW-Direktor Michael Hüther
  • Michael Hüther for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ·
  • Contribution ·
  • 11 Feb 2019

It’s about Europe’s future now

The Brexit drama seems to find no end. The divorce contract as well as the text outlining a perspective on how to organise the future relationship both got rejected by the House of Commons. A positive, constructively-minded majority there is not discernible.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon checks her Twitter feed.
  • Andrew Bassilakis / Matthias Diermeier / Henry Goecke ·
  • External Publications ·
  • 3 Jan 2019

Converging Media versus Diverging Politics - the Brexit Twitter on Debate

Even after two years of Brexit negotiations no deal between the EU and the UK has been settled. Today, the negotiation’s outcome seems as unpredictable as ever. This paper analyses twitter content as a proxy for the political and public debate with respect to Brexit.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May.
  • Michael Hüther / Matthias Diermeier / Markos Jung / Andrew Bassilakis ·
  • External Publications ·
  • 9 Oct 2018

If Nothing is Achieved: Who Pays for the Brexit?

The United Kingdom will depart from the European Union in March 2019. Numerous open questions remain about details and conditions especially with regard to post-Brexit EU-UK trade relations. In case of a negotiation failure, a "hard Brexit" could cause considerably high costs on both sides of the Channel. In the short run, companies will be charged more than 15 billion euro as tariffs. In the long run, UK-EU trade could be reduced up to 50 percent.

It’s business models, stupid!
  • Matthias Diermeier / Michael Hüther / Markos Jung ·
  • IW-Kurzbericht No. 33 ·
  • 11 Jun 2018

It’s business models, stupid!

In contrast to a massive current account deficit against China, the US runs a current account surplus with respect to the European Union. The US-EU surplus is largely driven by a positive service balance and primary incomes originating from US investments abroad. Services and primary incomes overcompensate the US goods trade deficit with the EU. Rather than representing a “rip–off”, the different balances reflect the economies’ different business models.

Economic crisis slows European convergence
  • Matthias Diermeier / Markos Jung / Pekka Sagner ·
  • IW-Kurzbericht No. 30 ·
  • 18 May 2018

Regional growth: Economic crisis slows European convergence

Up until the economic and financial crisis, economic conditions in the European regions had been converging. This process has come to a complete standstill in recent years due to lower growth in Eastern Europe and stagnation in Southern Europe.

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