ifo

The CESifo Group, consisting of the Center for Economic Studies (CES), the ifo Institute and the CESifo GmbH (Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research) is a research group unique in Europe in the area of economic research. It combines the theoretically oriented economic research of the university with the empirical work of a leading Economic research institute and places this combination in an international environment.

The services of the CESifo Group range from internationally established service products, such as the ifo Business Climate Index, to internationally acclaimed research, the promotion of junior researchers and the numerous, widely publicised contributions to policy debate at the national and European levels.

CESifo is also the core of a research network consisting of former visiting researchers at CES. CESifo is also the trade name under which the international activities of ifo, CES and CESifo GmbH are bundled.

The CESifo group arose in 1999, when Hans-Werner Sinn was appointed president of the ifo Institute jointly by the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) and the ifo Institute and CESifo GmbH was established as a subsidiary by the LMU and the ifo Institute. By grouping its joint resources, an international orientation and an aspiration to excellence in all fields of activity, the CESifo Group has achieved its initial goal: to make Munich a centre of economic research and policy discussion in Europe. 

Information and Forschung (research): This is what the ifo Institute has stood for since its foundation in January 1949. Its legal form is that of a registered, non-profit association. The ifo Institute is one of the leading economic research institutes in Europe and at the same time the one most often quoted in the German media. A co-operative agreement links it closely with the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich, and in 2002 it was officially proclaimed an “Institute at the University of Munich”. In the CESifo Group it co-operates closely with the Center for Economic Studies (CES) and CESifo GmbH. CESifo is also the brand name under which the international activities of ifo, CES and CESifo GmbH are united. read on