IfW - Institute for World Economics

The Kiel Institute for World Economics at the University of Kiel is an international center for economic policy research and documentation, it has about 270 employees. The Institute's main activities are economic research, economic policy consulting, and the documentation and provision of information about international economic relations. The Institute's publications and services are addressed to academics in Germany and abroad as well as to decision-makers in both the public and private sectors, and to those people in the general public interested in domestic and international economic policy. The Institute's Library is one of the world's largest libraries for economics and social sciences and the Institute's Economic Archives have a comprehensive collection of newspaper cuttings spanning eight decades.

The Institute was founded in 1914 by Bernhard Harms. The Institute, which is an independent institution, is affiliated with the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel. It is a member of the Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (WGL), which unites institutes and service providers of supraregional importance.

In the field of academic research the Institute regards applied research as its principal domain. The Institute engages especially in the empirical analysis of current economic policy issues, the theoretical analysis of new economic phenomena, and innovative economic thinking to find new solutions to economic policy problems.