Institutes & Facilities

Institute of Microeconomics

The Institute of Microeconomics at the University of Bonn has a long-standing tradition of academic excellence, e.g. the Nobel Prize that was awarded to Professor Reinhard Selten. Many alumni hold professorial positions at top universities in Germany, Europe, North America and all over the world.

The Institute currently gathers a diverse, international group consisting of 7-8 senior/junior professors and about 10 post-docs. It conducts two lively, weekly research seminars (one internal and one for external guests, respectively) that are also attended by students enrolled in the Bonn Graduate School of Economics. In addition, the institute organizes conferences attended by guests from all over the world. The covered research topics include most areas of modern microeconomic theory: pure methodological contribution to game theory, mechanism design and general equilibrium, but also a broad range of applications to information economics, industrial organization, auction and market design, political economy and behavioral economics.

Over the last 40 years, the Institute of Microeconomics has been either the motor or a principal contributor to several competitively awarded, large-scale, long-term collective grants that generously fund its research activities. At present, these include two Clusters of Excellence (Hausdorff Center for Mathematics: Foundations, Models, Applications, „ECONtribute: Markets and Public Policy“) and also a Collaborative Research Center sponsored by the German Science Foundation („Economic Perspectives on Societal Challenges: Equality of Opportunity, Market Regulation, and Financial Stability (EPoS)".

Director: Prof. Dr. Benny Moldovanu
Lennéstr. 37
53113 Bonn, Germany
Office: Mirjam Beyer

Phone: + 49-228-73 9242
 

Institute of Macroeconomics and Econometrics

Macroeconomists seek to understand how individual economic activities and economic policies affect society as a whole. Doing so, research at the Institute of Macroeconomics and Econometrics follows two approaches. On the one hand, we access and analyze microeconomic and historical data with a view toward understanding questions of current macro-economic concern. On the other hand, we develop models of the economy that take into account the heterogeneity among economic agents, such as within the household sector or the firm sector. The institute brings together leading international experts on the labor market, financial stability, business cycles and monetary policy, inequality, and economic history. The institute's mission is to contribute to academia and the wider society through excellent research on questions of social relevance.

Bonn is excellent, in teaching and research. Researchers of the institute are part of the excellence clusters ECONtribute and the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics, have been awarded research prizes and generous third-party funding, and have won multiple teaching awards.
Director: Prof. Dr. Christian Bayer
Kaiserplatz 7-9, 4th floor
53113 Bonn, Germany

Office: Heide Baumung
Phone: +49-228-73-9200
E-Mail: IME@uni-bonn.de

Institute of Applied Microeconomics

The Institute of Applied Microeconomics (IAME) engages in research on a broad range of topics that include
• behavioral economics,
• labor economics,
• health economics,
• human development,
• industrial organization,
• personnel economics,
• law and economics, and
• managerial economics

In order to reach conclusions in this area, we apply microeconomic theory and conduct lab and field experiments. We also employ the latest microeconometric methods to analyze survey and administrative data. Our research results provide answers to questions regarding individual risk, time and social preferences, in particular how these preferences evolve over time.

We also address moral and immoral behavior of individuals in the context of individual decision-making as well as in a market context. Based on field data, our research gives answers on how to protect consumers against bad advice from experts, for example when making long-lasting financial decisions. Field experiments are conducted to investigate individuals’ decision behavior on the use of scarce resources like clean water and energy.

Theoretical and experimental studies analyze the incentives of individuals when providing public goods. Theoretical models on contract theory inform on the optimal governance of public-private partnerships.

In Bonn we collaborate with the Institute on Behavior & Inequality, the Bonn Graduate School of Economics, the BonnEconLab, the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, the Center for Economics and Neuroscience, and the MPI for Research on Collective Goods.

Director: Prof. Dr. Matthias Kräkel
Lennéstraße 43/Adenauerallee 24–42
53113 Bonn
Germany

Office: iame.office@uni-bonn.de
Telefon: +49 228 73-9240 / -9238 / -9211

Institute of Finance and Statistics

The Institute of Finance and Statistics (IFS) consists of two groups: the econometrics and statistics group and the finance group.

The econometrics and statistics group currently consists of six professors as well as several postdocs and doctoral students. It organizes a weekly seminar where international guest speakers present state-of-the-art topics in econometrics and statistics. It is also part of the Cluster of Excellence at the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics. The research of the group covers a variety of topics in modern econometrics and statistics, ranging from questions in applied and theoretical microeconometrics to problems in non- and semiparametric statistics, functional data analysis and high-dimensional statistics.

The finance group has five full and assistant professors plus a number of postdocs and PhD students. Its main research interests are banking, financial institutions in general, financial stability and regulation, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. The group is part of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy and Isabel Schnabel, Professor of the Finance group represents it as speaker. Furthermore the group works in the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics, and the Collaborative Research Center Transregio 224 all sponsored by the German Science Foundation. It hosts a weekly research seminar with international speakers.

Director: Prof. Dr. Hendrik Hakenes
Adenauerallee 24-26
53113 Bonn

Office: Almut Lunkenheimer
Phone: +49-228-73-92 28
E-Mail: ifs@uni-bonn.de

Institute of International Economic Policy

The Institute of International Economic Policy (IIW) at the University of Bonn teaches and conducts research in monetary and economic policy, with special emphasis on international perspectives. Research focuses on European questions of the European Economic and Monetary Union, as well as on positive theories of central bank independence and exchange rate economics.

Director: Prof. Dr. Jürgen von Hagen
Lennéstraße 37
53113 Bonn, Germany
Office: Bénédicte Pillot-Bechtold
Phone: +49-228-73-9232
 

Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE)

The Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE) was established as one of the first structured doctoral programs in Germany, and is one the best institutions for the education of young researchers in the field of economics today. This is also demonstrated by the success of the doctoral students on the international job market. Graduates of the BGSE are often directly appointed to assistant professorships at renowned universities.

The doctoral program at the BGSE allows for a direct transition from the Master program into the Ph.D. program.The doctoral program consists of a two-year course phase and a three-year dissertation phase. In the M.Sc. / Economic Research program, students attend graduate level courses as well as topics courses that cover subjects at the current research frontier. After the successful completion, students can start straight into research. From the beginning, our students interact with other doctoral students, postdocs, faculty and international guests in weekly seminars, reading groups, and summer schools.

Our academic profile rests on the joint research activities of the Economics Department currently including the cluster of excellence ECONtribute: Märkte & Public Policy, the Collaborative Research Center Transregio 224 - Economic Perspectives on Societal Challenges: Equality of Opportunity, Market Regulation, and Financial Stability - EPoS, the Research Training Group 2281 – the Macroeconomics of Inequality, and the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics. Our doctoral students benefit from an impressive network of national and international partners. Locally, the BGSE cooperates with the Behaviour and Inequality Research Institute (briq), the Institute of Labour Economics (IZA) and the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods. Internationally, the BGSE is one of the founding partners of the European Doctoral Program (EDP), a network of top economics departments in Europe. BGSE students may visit one of the member institutions for a research stay abroad. If they want to do research outside of Europe, Bachelor students can apply for the UC Berkeley Exchange Program and BGSE students can visit Yale University for an academic year.

Director: Prof. Dr. Benny Moldovanu
Bonn Graduate School of Economics
Kaiserstr.1
53113 Bonn

Managing Director BGSE: Dr. Silke Kinzig
email: skinzig@uni-bonn.de
phone: +49 (0)228-73 9237