Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung

The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim is a nonprofit and independent institute with the legal form of a limited liability company (GmbH). Founded in 1990 on the basis of a public-private initiative in the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg in co-operation with the University of Mannheim, ZEW is one of Germany's leading economic research institutes, and enjoys a strong reputation throughout Europe. ZEW pursues four key objectives: To conduct research of the highest quality to provide exceptional economic policy advising to train young economists To inform the professional and lay public The Institute focuses on decision-makers in politics, economics, and administration, scientists in the national and international arena as well as the interested public. Regular interviews on the situation on the financial markets and business-related service providers as well as large-scale annual studies on technological competitiveness and innovation activities in the economy are representative for the different types of information provided by ZEW. The research department Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management performs economic analyses of environmental policy instruments. A guiding topic in the department's research is the cost efficiency of environmental regulation. The department plays a prominent role in environmental economic policy advising in Europe, in part due to its modular system of computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. ZEW is also one of the leading institutions in the economic research of EU emissions trading.