Qualla: German Economic Institute

German Economic Institute: Introduction

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit T.Voekler, Public domain. Germany came out of the Second World War with its industrial base ruined, its currency worthless, and a fierce debate ahead about what kind of economy it would build next. In 1951 - the same year the Federal Republic was settling into its new institutions and the first German Bundesliga clubs were forming and the country was beginning to be readmitted to international organisations - two umbrella groups of German business interests created a research institute in Cologne to make sure the voice of industry was heard. They called it the Deutsches Industrieinstitut. Today it goes by Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln, abbreviated IW, in English the German Economic Institute. It is the largest privately funded economic think tank in Germany, and from a building on Cologne's Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer it has been making the case for an economically liberal order for over seven decades.

Image: T.Voekler | Public domain

German Economic Institute: Founders and First Years

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0. The institute's parents were the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) - the two big federations that speak for German employers and German industry respectively. They wanted research that would push back against trade...

Image: Raimond Spekking | CC BY-SA 4.0

German Economic Institute: What the IW Actually Does

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Johannes Christ, CC BY-SA 2.0. Under its current director Michael Hüther - an economist who has led the institute since 2004 and is one of the most quoted commentators on the German economy - the IW publishes analyses on labour markets, vocational training, taxation, energy policy, monetary policy, real estate...

Image: Johannes Christ | CC BY-SA 2.0

German Economic Institute: The IW Group

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nils Thorben, CC BY-SA 3.0. The German Economic Institute is not just one institute. Over the decades it has built out a family of subsidiaries, collectively called the IW Group. IW Consult is the commercial research arm, doing contract studies for companies and ministries; it also operates 'ecl@ss', a digi...

Image: Nils Thorben | CC BY-SA 3.0

German Economic Institute: Cologne, Berlin, Brussels

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Achim Raschka (talk), CC BY-SA 4.0. The IW is headquartered in Cologne, but increasingly the action is elsewhere. Federal economic policy is made in Berlin, where the institute has an office under Knut Bergmann, providing rapid analysis for the lawmakers and journalists who congregate around the Bundestag. EU econo...

Image: Achim Raschka (talk) | CC BY-SA 4.0