German Economic Institute
think tank
The German Economic Institute (German: Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln e.V.; IW) is a private economic research institute in Germany, which promotes an economic liberal order. The German Economic Institute is based in Cologne, Germany, with additional offices in Berlin, Germany, and Brussels, Belgium. It is the research institute of the Association of Industrial Companies.
The IW compiles analyses on economic and social policy issues. As a think tank, it combines research, consultancy and communication services. IW director is Michael Hüther.
History
The institute was founded in 1951 under the auspices of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) as German Industrial Institute (Deutsches Industrieinstitut) in Cologne. From 1951 to 1953 the journalist Otto Mejer (DNB) and Fritz Hellwig (CDU) were managing director of the newly founded institute. DI became later the DIW. The German Economic Institute is a registered association (e.V.). Its membership consists of some 110 German business and employers' associations as well as a number of individual companies.
“German Economic Institute” enters the record as think tank. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what German, Economic and Institute can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q958316. VIAF identifies the subject as 311025520. The Library of Congress control number is n80067130. Authority coordinates are 50.946, 6.963. 4 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1951 and 1953.
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This entry incorporates text from “German Economic Institute” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.