# IZA Institute of Labor Economics

The IZA – Institute of Labor Economics (German: Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit), until 2016 referred to as the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), is a private, independent economic research institute and academic network focused on the analysis of global labor markets and headquartered in Bonn, Germany.

## History

Founded in 1998, IZA is a non-profit limited-liability organization supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation and other national and international sources.

### Restructuring

On March 1, 2016, the Institute for the Study of Labor was restructured by Klaus Zumwinkel, CEO of the Deutsche Post Stiftung and president of IZA. A new institute on behavior and inequality research was founded while IZA will put more emphasis on policy-relevant research. Founding director Klaus F. Zimmermann, who did not accept these developments, left IZA on 1 March 2016.

### Closure

In February 2025, the board of the Deutsche Post Foundation decided to discontinue the operation of IZA as of 31 December 2025.

## Work

IZA runs the world's largest research network in economic science, comprising over 1,300 international Research Fellows and Affiliates, as well as Policy Fellows from business, politics, society and the media.
As of December 2014, the RePEc ranks IZA second of the top worldwide economic institutions in the field of labour economics as well as second of the top worldwide think tanks. In Germany it is the number one top economic institution.
In conducting labor market research, IZA cooperates closely with the Economics Department at the University of Bonn and the department's graduate education program at the Bonn Graduate School of Economics.
IZA's main focus is the economic analysis of national and international labor markets within a broad range of research areas. Furthermore, IZA provides policy advice on crucial labor market issues for national and international policy institutions.

### Research

IZA's research activities currently concentrate on eleven program areas providing high-standard labor market research on a wide array of topics:
* Evaluation of Labor Market Programs
* Education
* Gender and Family
* Behavioral and Personnel Economics
* Labor Markets and Institutions
* Environment and Labor Markets
* Labor in the Macroeconomy
* Labor Statistics
* Mobility and Migration
* Labor in Emerging and Post-Transition Economies
* Employment and Development
To promote research on labor markets in developing countries, IZA launched in 2006, together with the World Bank, a joint research program on "Employment and Development". In addition, in its special research area "Growth and Labor Markets in Low Income Countries", IZA coordinates for the UK Department for International Development a substantial research program to promote growth and employment in low income countries.

### Publications

IZA publishes the series Research in Labor Economics together with Emerald Group Publishing.
In addition, from 2012 to 2023 IZA published the IZA journal series, which consisted of originally five and later three open access journals that focus on different aspects of international labor markets. The journals were published on IZA's behalf by SpringerOpen (until 2017) and Sciendo (afterwards) and did not charge any author fees. After a 2017 reorganization, the following three journals were published:
* IZA Journal of Labor Economics
* IZA Journal of Labor Policy
* IZA Journal of Development and Migration (formerly IZA Journal of Migration)
The two original journals abolished in 2017 are:
* IZA Journal of Labor & Development
* IZA Journal of European Labor Studies
In 2023, IZA discontinued the IZA journal series altogether.
Since May 2014, IZA publishes, together with Bloomsbury Publishing, IZA World of Labor, an open access resource providing empirically founded research articles on labor economics for a non-academic readership.

## Awards
### IZA Prize in Labor Economics

Since 2002 IZA awards yearly the IZA Prize in Labor Economics for exceptional academic accomplishments in the field of labor economics. It is endowed with an award of 50,000 euros and is among the most prestigious economics awards worldwide.

### Young Labor Economist Award

In 2006, IZA also established the "IZA Young Labor Economist Award" to honor an outstanding published paper in labor economics written by researchers under 40 years of age at the time of publication. The prize money of 5,000 Euros is shared between the authors. Winners include:
* 2006: Enrico Moretti::Moretti, Enrico (2004). "Estimating the Social Return to Higher Education: Evidence from Longitudinal and Repeated Cross-Sectional Data" (PDF). Journal of Econometrics. 121 (1–2): 175–212. doi:10.1016/j.jeconom.2003.10.015. S2CID 5571833.
* 2007: Oriana Bandiera, Iwan Barankay, Imran Rasul::Bandiera, O.; Barankay, I.; Rasul, I. (2005). "Social Preferences and the Response to Incentives: Evidence from Personnel Data". Quarterly Journal of Economics. 120 (3): 917–962. doi:10.1093/qje/120.3.917.
* 2008: Fabian Lange::Lange, Fabian (2007). "The Speed of Employer Learning". Journal of Labor Economics. 25 (1): 1–35. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.453.6183. doi:10.1086/508730. S2CID 43799154.
* 2009: Alexandre Mas::Mas, Alexandre (2008). "Labour Unrest and the Quality of Production: Evidence from the Construction Equipment Resale Market". Review of Economic Studies. 75 (1): 229–258. doi:10.1111/j.1467-937X.2007.00461.x. S2CID 17148622.
* 2010: Raj Chetty::Chetty, Raj (2008). "Moral Hazard versus Liquidity and Optimal Unemployment Insurance" (PDF). Journal of Political Economy. 116 (2): 173–234. doi:10.1086/588585. S2CID 2435688.
* 2011: Johannes Abeler, Steffen Altmann, Sebastian Kube, Mathias Wibral::Abeler, Johannes; Altmann, Steffen; Kube, Sebastian; Wibral, Matthias (2010). "Gift Exchange and Workers' Fairness Concerns: When Equality is Unfair" (PDF). Journal of the European Economic Association. 8 (6): 1299–1324. doi:10.1111/j.1542-4774.2010.tb00556.x. S2CID 9920681.
* 2012: Scott Carrell and Mark Hoekstra::Carrell, Scott E.; Hoekstra, Mark L. (2010). "Externalities in the Classroom: How Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Affect Everyone's Kids". American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 2 (1): 211–228. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.297.5273. doi:10.1257/app.2.1.211.
* 2013: Martha Bailey, Brad Hershbein and Amalia Miller::Bailey, Martha J; Hershbein, Brad; Miller, Amalia R (2012). "The Opt-In Revolution? Contraception, Fertility Timing and the Gender Gap in Wages". American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 4 (3): 225–254. doi:10.1257/app.4.3.225. PMC 3684076. PMID 23785566.
* 2014: Brian K. Kovak::Kovak, Brian K (2013). "Regional Effects of Trade Reform: What is the Correct Measure of Liberalization?" (PDF). American Economic Review. 103 (5): 1960–1976. doi:10.1257/aer.103.5.1960.