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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
No significant economic growth is expected in Baden-Württemberg in the first quarter of 2024 either. According to the latest nowcast from the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) and the University of Hohenheim, gross domestic product (GDP) - adjusted for seasonal and working day effects - will only increase at a growth rate of 0.1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. The two subsequent quarters will also be characterised by low economic momentum, with the forecast growth rate moving only slightly upwards.
Overall, the different types of courses offer heterogeneous groups of participants good opportunities to further develop their linguistic and social integration. On the other hand, job-related German language support only partially achieves the desired effects in terms of labour market integration in the period of up to 30 months after the start of a vocational language course. During the language acquisition phase, vocational language courses, which are usually full-time programmes, can only be combined with gainful employment to a limited extent. Even after completing the course, former participants are less likely to be employed than comparable non-participants during the observation period.
Permeability in and out of continuing education plays a major role because, among other things, it serves to ensure the best possible care for patients and those in need of care. From a professional policy perspective and from the perspective of the educational subjects themselves, it can lead to an increase in the attractiveness of the nursing profession. However, there are a number of obstacles to further training in nursing: In addition to the high lack of transparency of further training providers, certificates and content, further training is not (sufficiently) financially worthwhile. Employer support is dependent on individual cases and rarely follows a long-term strategy - with negative effects on carers who are willing to undertake further training.
In Germany, the shadow economy will grow by 38 billion euros in 2024 to 481 billion euros and in relation to GDP by half a percentage point to 11.3 percent. This increase follows even stronger growth in the previous year. previous year. The most important reason for the increase in the shadow economy is the weak development of the official gross domestic product. The growth since since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic is similar to the average for of 20 major industrialized countries.
