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Welcome at the Institute for Applied Economic Research at the University of Tübingen (IAW)

The Institute for Applied Economic Research, located in Tübingen, Germany, is an independent research institute at the University of Tübingen. The IAW’s objective is

to apply economic and social research to issues relating to the private and public economy. Its scientific work contributes to the empirical basis for economic policymaking.

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Subjects

In the following, you will receive an overview of the individual subjects. For more information please click on the topic of interest.

In this field of research, IAW mainly focuses on impact analyses and process-accompanying evaluations of various labor market policies. Another research topic are the effects of legal regulations on the labor market.

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Labor market policy

Demographic change, the shortage of skilled workers and the increasing inequality of market incomes are central challenges for the social security system. Our research focuses on poverty and wealth, social mobility, rehabilitation and retirement, and working conditions in care.

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Social policy and nursing

Research on education issues is an important field of research at the IAW. The focus is on the transition between school and work, on the development of training and further education, on digitization processes in the education sector and on the returns to education.

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Educational research

The IAW feels closely connected to the state of Baden-Württemberg and its economic and social development. In many research projects, we examine current challenges, opportunities and risks of companies and employees in different industries and regions of Baden-Württemberg.

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Baden-Württemberg

We investigate the significance of international trade and migration for incomes and employment in the state of Baden-Württemberg and the German economy. The focus of our research lies in trade agreements as well as European Integration on goods and factor markets.

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Foreign trade

Due to demographic change, the topics of migration and integration will gain in importance in the future. Quantitative questions becoming increasingly important for the national economy, e.g. forms of managing immigration and the attractiveness for potential migrants, while qualitative questions may treat about criteria for successful integration.

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Migration and integration

News

The USA's “reciprocal” tariffs: a look behind the tariff formula

Just under 100 days into US President Donald Trump's second term in office, the impact of his decisions on the global economy is becoming increasingly clear. These include the imposition of tariffs on US imports from other countries. In his latest article for IAW Impulse, IAW Research Fellow Prof. Dr. Benjamin Jung examines the extent to which this measure comes close to the declared goal of reducing the United States' trade deficits with other countries (in German).

June 27, 2025: II IAW Workshop Growth. Prosperity. Democracy - Deciding and acting in the face of increasing uncertainty

The IAW workshop takes place in Stuttgart and is dedicated to the following questions:
- State of scientific knowledge on growth, income and wealth distribution, nature consumption and democracy. Are there gaps in research and knowledge?
- How can an informed public discourse with rational decisions for action emerge from scientific findings?
- How does this discourse fit into practical processes of the emergence of communicative power and its institutional implementation in administrative power? What roles do actors as diverse as scientists, NGOs, political parties and the media play in this process?
- What are the factors that turn knowledge of and about problems into a trigger for rapid countermeasures, even if these involve serious impositions for the citizens affected?
- Why are insights into the need for self-restraint reinterpreted as restrictions on freedom that inhibit action? How can a revision succeed?

Programme (in German)

Please note: The number of participants is limited to 25. We therefore ask you to register early by e-mail to michael.mangold@iaw.edu

News from the IAW: IAW News 1/2025 online

  • Improved data and models for analysing trade and investment policy
  • Managing gender equality in the SGB II target management system only possible with gender-differentiated key figures
  • Obituary: Honorary member former Federal President Professor Dr Horst Köhler deceased

IAW News 1/2025 (in German)

Bundesbank-IAW lecture event with panel discussion at Haus der Wirtschaft, Stuttgart

Award of the Norbert Kloten Prize for Applied Economic Research 2025 to:

Mr Jan Jacobsen, M.Sc. for his Master's thesis Do Finfluencers Give Good Investment Advice? A large-scale, LLMpowered Analysis of the Profitability of Investment Recommendations on YouTube. Supervisor: Professor Dr Dominik Papies, Chair of Marketing at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.

Photo: Deutsche Bundesbank

From left to right: Prof Dr Martin Biewen, Director of the IAW, Jan Jacobsen and Dr Patricia Staab, President of the Head Office of the Deutsche Bundesbank in Baden-Württemberg.

Lecture

Germany in international tax competition (in German).

Photo: Deutsche Bundesbank

Professor Dr Dr h.c. Clemens Fuest (Professor of Economics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and President of the ifo Institute).

Panel discussion

Photo: Deutsche Bundesbank

  • Raoul Didier, Head of the Tax Policy Department at DGB
  • Professor Dr Dr h.c. Clemens Fuest, President of the ifo Institute
  • Dr Tobias Hentze, Head of the Thematic Cluster State, Taxes, Social Security at IW Köln
  • Julia Jirmann, Tax Policy Officer of the Tax Justice Network
  • Moderation: Johannes Pennekamp (FAZ)

Political uncertainty makes forecasts difficult - Economic forecast for Baden-Württemberg for the 1st quarter of 2025.

Following the year of recession in 2024, gross domestic product (GDP) in Baden-Württemberg could grow slightly again in 2025. The latest nowcast from the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) and the University of Hohenheim predicts real growth in economic output of 0.2 per cent for the first quarter of 2025. The forecast growth rates for the second and third quarters of 2025 are also positive.

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