Prof. Dr. Julian Hinz

The RETHINK-GSC project, funded by the EU's Horizon Europe program, is a research project that uses innovative methods to analyze the effects of global supply chains (GSCs) and develops new methodologies to quantify the role of knowledge flows and service inputs. The aim of the RETHINK-GSC is to capture the increasing importance of intangibles in global production and to provide new insights into ongoing and expected changes in global production processes.

The Cluster for Economic Research on Africa focuses on enterprises and entrepreneurial potential in African markets, trade and investment policy, and issues of macroeconomic development, stability, and public finance. This research will strengthen evidence-based policy advice for German and European Africa policy and also engage and address African partners.

The purpose of the report is to provide a systematic overview of the relevant data related to Big Data and their potential for macroeconomic analysis (in particular business cycle monitoring and forecasting). In this context, both the possibilities and the challenges that may arise due to data availability, data quality, methodological requirements or the manageability of the data will be discussed in detail.

Research on sanctions imposed by the West against Russia shows that they increase political support among the population for the Russian government and President Putin. This is true both inside and outside Russia.

What is the role of coalitions in enforcing sanctions? In a newly released study, researchers at IfW Kiel and DIW Berlin analyze the economic impact of jointly implementing punitive measures in the context of the 2012 Iran and 2014 Russia sanctions. They find that coalitions serve two crucial purposes—they not only magnify the economic cost imposed on the target but also reduce domestic costs for sanctioning states.

The new free trade agreement in Africa opens up new opportunities for trade within the continent and also for European and especially German companies. The EU has an opportunity to arrest the decline in its relative importance in African trade compared to China. For this to succeed, however, the EU and European companies should support African countries in implementing the free trade area. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.