Kiel Institute For the World Economy

The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (Institut für Weltwirtschaft, or IfW) is an independent, non-profit economic research institute and think tank based in Kiel, Germany. In 2017, it was ranked as one of the top 50 most influential think tanks in the world and was also ranked in the top 15 in the world for economic policy specifically.[2] German business newspaper, Handelsblatt, referred to the Institute as "Germany's most influential economic think tank", while Die Welt, stated that "The best economists in the world are in Kiel" ("Die besten Volkswirte der Welt sitzen in Kiel").[3][4] Founded in 1914, the Institute is the oldest economic research institute in Germany.[5] Its main areas of specialities include global economic research, economic policy, and economic education. The Institute is home to the world's largest specialist library of economics and the social sciences, the German National Library of Economics, which has access to more than four million publications in printed or electronic format and subscriptions to over 30,000 periodicals and journals.[6] It is also a member of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community, or Leibniz Association, an association of research institutions, museums, and centers that includes Germany's six leadings. The Institute employs approximately 160 people, of whom more than 80 are economists. The current president of the Institute is Gabriel Felbermayr, an Austrian-born economist who specializes in international economics, international trade agreements, and environmental economics.