German President Visits Ifo Institute

Left to right: M. Knoche, W. Simson, Eva Luise Köhler, Horst Köhler,      B. Merk , Gerlinde Sinn, Hans-Werner Sinn

Horst Köhler, Germany’s President, paid a visit this morning to the Ifo Institute in Munich, in an act of recognition of the Institute’s national and international standing in economics research.

Mr Köhler, who holds a doctorate in economics from Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and who was accompanied by his wife, Eva Luise Köhler, and Bavarian Justice Minister Beate Merk, was greeted by Ifo President Hans-Werner Sinn, his wife Gerlinde Sinn, Wilhelm Simson, chairman of the Ifo Administrative Council, and Meinhard Knoche, member of the Ifo Board of Directors.

He then moved to the garden within the Ifo complex, where he was greeted by the entire workforce of the three institutions making up the CESifo Group: the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, the Center for Economic Studies at the University of Munich, and the CESifo GmbH.

In a short introduction, Hans-Werner Sinn stressed the role of the Ifo Institute as a bridge between economic research and both the general public and policy-makers. The unique strengths of the CESifo Group, with its closely intertwined relationship with the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich and a globe-spanning network of economics professors, has made it enormously successful in placing Germany in general and Munich in particular firmly in the international economics research arena. Its economic forecasts, publication series and policy-advice activities, added to the large number of scientific conferences it holds every year, have earned it a place that Mr Köhler succinctly summarised as: “One simply knows the Ifo Institute.”

Wilhelm Simson, Hans-Werner Sinn, Gerlinde Sinn, Horst Köhler

While not the only important element, economics is an important part of life, he said. That makes the role of economists and economic research all the more relevant.

The increasing pace of globalisation, said Mr Köhler, makes it now more necessary than ever to have such an institution as the Ifo Institute that can explain its challenges and opportunities both to the general public and to the decision-makers, helping them to prepare for the new realities it will bring. “My visit here today,” he concluded, “is a recognition of this fact and serves the purpose of acknowledging Ifo’s activities and documenting them.”

After signing the Guest Book and being presented with a signed copy of “Kaltstart”, the book written by Hans-Werner Sinn and Gerlinde Sinn on the economic challenges of German reunification, Mr Köhler held discussions on Germany in Times of Globalisation with Mr Sinn and a number of senior Ifo researchers.

The visit concluded with a reception in the institute’s Musgrave Saal.

• Further CESifo Newsletter article dealing with Horst Köhler
• CESifo Working Papers published in the past three months