The aim is to conclude recommendations for the economic development of these countries. The Zermatter Symposia, an international committee for the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas, acts as a forum for discussion of basic problems. Greater emphasis is placed on empirical studies, which provide a basis for producing models and evaluating theoretical findings, as well as for concluding ways of developing economic policy. This work is mainly performed by the Institute of Empirical Economical Research, the Institute for Economic Policy, the Institute of Theoretical Economics, and the Department of Public Finance. One interdisciplinary area tackled is the analysis of regional data to provide a basis for recommendations.
Microeconomic research is concentrated on the area of decision and game theory.
In future, the Department of Economics will deepen its involvement in the new research area of ecological economics. As well as intensifying research in this area of great future relevance, this move will also broaden the choice of economics degree programmes available. Within this division of labour, in which the IWI builds upon the work of the ISS, the Chair of Data Management which specialises in databases and data-modelling for economic institutions has an additional integrating function. Both institutes co-operate closely with the Institute of Computer Science of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, which contributes to the IT fundamentals of business computing, and also uses the training services of the ISS in the field of software technology. The ISS develops telematics applications for the internet and public-access terminals.