2019 A n n u a l R e p o r t Presented at the 71st ifo Annual Meeting on June 18, 2020 Published in 2020 for the ifo Institute Poschingerstr. 5, 81679 Munich, Postbox 860460, 81631 Munich, Germany Phone: +49/(0)89/9224-0, Fax: +49/(0)89/985369 Internet: http://www.ifo.de; email: [email protected] ISSN: 2194-928X Editor: Marga Jennewein Printing: ifo Institute ifo Annual Report 2019 Page The Goals and Tasks of the ifo Institute . 7 Report of the Executive Board . 10 Research and Service Departments ifo Center for Public Finance and Political Economy . 21 ifo Center for Labor and Demographic Economics . 25 ifo Center for the Economics of Education . 27 ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies . 37 ifo Center for Energy, Climate, and Resources . 48 ifo Center for International Economics . 57 ifo Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys . 60 ifo Center for International Institutional Comparisons and Migration Research . 75 ifo Center of Excellence for Migration and Integration Research – CEMIR . 80 Research Group Taxation and Fiscal Policy . 81 Library . 87 Communications . 88 Dresden Branch . 97 Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research – CESifo GmbH . 109 Conferences, Publications, and External Relations of the ifo Institute . 114 Personnel, Finances, and Organizational Bodies Personnel Development . 119 Financial Development . 125 Organization Chart of the ifo Institute . 127 ifo Annual Report 2019 3 The ifo Institute 2019 The Goals and Tasks of the ifo Institute Information and research: Since its foundation in Jan- In the context of this topic, the ifo Institute deals with uary 1949, ifo has provided both information and re- the following fi ve fi elds of research: search, hence its name ifo = Information and Forschung 1. Economic growth and sustainability (research). Its legal form is that of a registered, nonprof- it association. As a member of the Leibniz Association, 2. Equal opportunities and integration the ifo Institute – formally the Leibniz Institute for Eco- 3. Public tasks, taxation, and political economy nomic Research at the University of Munich e.V. – is an institution that receives public funding from the federal 4. Digitalization of the economy and state governments pursuant to Article 91b of the 5. European integration, globalization, and “third- German Constitution. A cooperation agreement links system competition” ifo closely with University of Munich (LMU), and in 2002 ifo was officially proclaimed an “Institute at the Univer- sity of Munich”. The ifo Institute, CES at the LMU, and CESifo GmbH pool their resources as the CESifo Group to form an The ifo Institute is one of the leading economic re- internationally active research association. The aim search institutes in Europe. Through its fi ve fi elds of is to enrich the public debate on the basis of excellent Enriching the public action – research, the promotion of young research- economic research, to support economic policy deci- debate ers, policy advice, participation in public debates, and sion-making processes with high-quality policy advice, information/services – it helps maintain and increase and to support the public with high-profi le economic sustainable economic prosperity and social participa- information, such as the ifo Business Climate Index. tion under constantly changing conditions. The ifo Institute cooperates closely with the LMU, es- pecially in the promotion of young researchers and through the joint Economics and Business Data Center The ifo Institute works on economically and politically (EBDC). The department heads and the president occu- relevant issues at the highest scientifi c level and with an py nine professorships at the LMU, making up part of international reputation, developing research-based the Department of Economics. recommendations for action for government, business, and society. Economic data and information collected systematically and over long time horizons provide The CESifo Group focuses on the ifo Institute’s national, impetus for political and public debates, which in turn European, and international scientifi c networking and generate new research tasks. In this way, ifo plays an on economic research at the LMU. At the heart of these important part in the development of appropriate eco- activities is its research network, consisting of former nomic policy decisions as a basis for innovation and guest researchers at CES and the ifo Institute. EconPol social development. Europe – The European Network for Economic and Fis- cal Policy Research – is also of central importance for The ifo Institute’s economic policy model is the social European networking. EconPol Europe is a unique net- market economy, i.e., the combination of economic work of policy-oriented university and nonuniversity success with social balance as championed by Ludwig research institutes from various European countries Erhard, who was one of ifo’s founders. The central topic that combine their expertise to build bridges between of research at ifo is the importance of government ac- national and European economic policy debates and tion for maintaining and increasing economic prosperi- contribute to the further development of the European ty, economic stability, and social cohesion. Government Union. action should promote the creation of wealth, support stability and sustainability of economic development, ifo’s eight research centers – Public Finance and Politi- provide social security, and ensure that as many people cal Economy, Labor and Demographic Economics, The as possible are able to take advantage of the opportuni- Economics of Education, Industrial Organization and ties available to them in an open and free society. New Technologies, Energy, Climate, and Resources, International Economics, International Institutional The central topic of research at ifo is the analysis of the Comparisons and Migration Research, and Macroeco- role of government action for sustainably maintaining nomics and Surveys – cover research topics that are and increasing economic prosperity and social cohesion. also highly relevant for policy advice. The ifo Dresden ifo Annual Report 2019 7 THE GOALS AND TASKS OF THE IFO INSTITUTE Branch, founded in 1993, works in areas that are of spe- 120 countries as the ifo World Economic Survey (WES) cial interest to the Free State of Saxony, from which it in 2002. Since its launch in 1999 and the upgrade of receives its funding. technical and content aspects in 2019, the Database for Institutional Comparisons in Europe (DICE) has ifo’s junior research staff benefi t tremendously from grown signifi cantly and enriched the range of services network eff ects within the CESifo Group. ifo employs provided by the ifo Institute. more than 40 doctoral students, most of whom partic- ipate in the Institute’s graduate program and are also ifo also off ers a broad range of information via the in- members of the Munich Graduate School of Economics ternet, available in German and English, and publishes (MGSE) at LMU. ifo’s doctoral program is particularly several journals and book series. International publica- attractive thanks to the fact that it combines academic tions are becoming increasingly important. research with the Institute’s practical policy orienta- tion. Every year the CESifo organizes a number of interna- tional conferences at the ifo Institute, and has become The economic research carried out at the ifo Institute is the second largest economic research network world- subject to the “Rules of good scientifi c practice” draft - wide with over 1,500 researchers in 43 countries. The ed by the German Research Foundation (DFG), as well CESifo Working Papers written by members of this re- as to the gender equality standards, also established search network again took top places among all eco- by the DFG. The ifo Institute is seeking to gradually nomic research institutions in a worldwide comparison address the ongoing underrepresentation of women of downloads from the Social Science Research Net- among its researchers by placing a particular emphasis work website. on supporting young female academics. ifo’s work is characterized by its cooperation with uni- Politics and the general public benefi t from the close versities and renowned researchers in Germany and link between the ifo Institute and the university, as this abroad. Its collaboration with LMU occupies a special link reinforces the Institute’s academic performance, place in ifo’s work. ifo and LMU jointly created the Eco- and fi rst-class research is the foundation for the policy nomics & Business Data Center (EBDC), whose main work that the Institute sees as its core task. As part of task is to supply a continuously updated dataset of its policy advice, ifo produces a large number of expert German companies to feed new areas of research in opinions on current economic policy issues on behalf economics and business administration. The EBDC of public and private clients. ifo was among the insti- provides researchers with corporate data, a combi- tutes to submit a successful bid for the joint economic nation of ifo survey data and other corporate data forecast tender, issued for the fi rst time at a European sources, and is the main contact and coordinator for level in 2007; and bid successfully again in all subse- scientifi c datasets on companies. In December 2013, a quent tenders, most recently in 2018. In the context Research Data Center branch of the Bavarian Federal of international consultancy projects, the ifo Institute Statistics Office was opened in the EBDC. Consequent- also makes its expertise available to the public sector ly, researchers can now access German federal statis- institutions of other countries. tics survey data on the EBDC premises. In addition to its research and policy advice, the ifo In- The Institute aims to off er ifo scientists an ideal setup stitute also provides the public with data, information, that is conducive to achieving top results in research and other services. This takes place primarily in con- and policy advice in line with international standards.