THE BERLIN OFFICE OF RWI
RWI in Berlin: Science meets politics
Since 2007, the RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research has been combining economic research with practical policy advice at its Berlin location. Our Berlin office strengthens the institute's presence in the German capital. We build bridges between research and politics.
Upcoming events
New data show how people are moving within Senegal and on their way to Europe. What role do climate, education, and economic prospects play in this? Recent research findings provide insights for German development and migration policy.
RWI-Impuls is an exclusive roundtable format in which the RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research invites selected stakeholders from politics, civil society, and the media to discuss scientific evidence on current, socio-politically relevant topics with researchers in a confidential setting. The events follow the Chatham House Rules. The event is reserved for invited guests. A breakfast will be served during the event.
Speaker: Johanna Arlinghaus (Hertie School)
Location: Hybrid – Berlin Office and Teams Link
Time: 1:30 - 2:30 pm
Title: The Welfare Effects of Green Industrial Policy
Abstract: Green industrial policy has become a central tool for accelerating the deployment of clean technologies in hard-to-abate sectors, yet there is little economic guidance on how governments should choose among alternative policy instruments. This paper develops a unified framework to compare green industrial policy designs when clean investment is irreversible, learning-by-doing and market formation generate dynamic spillovers, and private returns are uncertain. We show that instrument choice is irrelevant in deterministic environments: conditional on inducing the same deployment, alternative instruments are equivalent in welfare terms. Under uncertainty, however, irreversible investment creates an option value of waiting that delays socially desirable deployment. Policy instruments differ in how they reshape the distribution of returns, reduce downside risk, and accelerate investment timing. Using the marginal value of public funds as a welfare metric, we show that state-contingent price stabilization instruments dominate deterministic subsidies, and that symmetric contracts weakly dominate one-sided guarantees by achieving similar deployment with lower expected fiscal cost. A quantitative framework illustrates the magnitude of these effects.
In the RWI Impulse “Affordable Housing in Times of Demographic Change and the Green Transition” we discuss with experts from politics, academia, and various interest groups the regionally varying challenges that demographic change and the decarbonization of the building sector pose for the availability of affordable housing.
Datum: 15 October 2026
RWI Impulse is an exclusive roundtable format in which the RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research invites selected actors from politics, civil society, and the media to discuss scientific evidence on current, socio-politically relevant topics with researchers in a confidential setting. The events follow the Chatham House Rules. The event is reserved for invited guests.
Speaker: Max Friedrich Steinhardt (FU Berlin)
Location: Hybrid – Berlin Office and Teams Link
Title: Central European Big Bangs: Migration and the Political Economy in the United States (co-authored with Theocharis Grigoariadis and Oliver Bogdan Wach)
Abstract: This paper investigates the transnational political agency of Eastern European diasporas. It specifically examines how the Polish diaspora in the United States (Polonia) shaped American political development during the Cold War. We conceptualise the Polonia as a carrier of political events from the home country, whose latent anti-communist preferences are strategically addressed by politicians. Based on a novel dataset of U.S. Congressional speeches, newspaper media salience, and roll call votes from the 93rd to 101st Congresses, we analyze legislative behavior by employing a two-way fixed effects empirical framework. We find that during exogenous foreign policy shocks that raised Polish salience, such as the rise of Solidarity and the 1980s, Members of Congress representing high Polonia districts significantly intensified pro-Polish floor discourse and conservative voting behavior. Furthermore, we provide tentative evidence that this ideological realignment yielded observable electoral rewards. We propose an electoral equilibrium where the historical trauma of communism works as a mobilization catalyst by redefining the nexus between international shocks, diaspora agency, and domestic political polarization.
Dual expertise: scientific networking and policy advice
The team in Berlin works closely with Berlin universities and communicates research findings directly to decision-makers. Politicians, media professionals and other stakeholders can find expert answers to economic questions here.
The team consists of researchers from all RWI areas of expertise as well as from the research groups Global Migration and Microstructure of Tax and Transfer Systems.
Active networking in the research landscape
Since 2023, the RWI Berlin Network Seminar has regularly invited leading scientists from Berlin and the surrounding area. Interested parties can participate after registering.
Furthermore, we coordinate important Berlin research networks and seminar series together with our partner institutions:
Knowledge transfer through events
Our Berlin office organises conferences, workshops and dialogue formats on current economic policy issues. We bring research, politics and society into conversation.
At RWI Impuls, you will find a confidential space for scientifically sound policy discussions. Here, research and decision-making come together directly. RWI Impuls is our exclusive round-table format in Berlin.
If you would like to learn more about our events or participate in our networking seminar, please contact us at Claudia.Schmiedchen@rwi-essen.de.
