The Economic Power of Public Opinion & the Public Power of Economic Opinion

Think Tank

American Social Science Association

The American Social Science Association was founded in 1865 in Boston to discuss social and political issues. As an association similar to an academy, it had a significant influence on the early government as well as an occasional proximity to the Free Masons.

Economic Strategies for 21th Century e21

Economic Strategies for 21th Century e21 is “a new nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to economic research and innovative public policies for the 21st century. We aim to advance free enterprise, fiscal discipline, economic growth, and the rule of law. Drawing on the expertise of practitioners, policymakers, and academics, we will encourage a spirited debate about the way forward for democratic capitalism. ... We will seek out the creative ideas of market participants and work to better integrate these practical perspectives into the policy process.” 

Think Factory I, II, III

Institut für Makroökonomie und Konjunkturforschung

“Institut für Makroökonomie und Konjunkturforschung [Institute for Macroeconomics and Economic Research] (IMK) ... was founded in 2005 by the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB). ... The neo-Keynesian-based institute ... was the junior partner of the neoliberal Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) from 2007 to 2009 for the Joint Economic Forecast of economic research institutes, commissioned by the federal government of Germany. The IMK canceled this cooperation in 2009, however, in order to apply to the German Federal Ministry of Finance itself as consortium leader together with the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO) and the British National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR). In the final selection, the IMK did not receive the commission.”

Bruegel

“Bruegel is a European think tank specializing in economics. Established in 2005, Bruegel is independ-ent and non-doctrinal. ... We are committed to impartiality, openness and excellence. Bruegel’s mem-bership includes EU Member State governments, international corporations and institutions. ... It is chaired by Jean-Claude Trichet and its 11 members all have distinguished backgrounds in government, business, civil society and academia. Former chairmen Mario Monti and Leszek Balcerowicz were ap-pointed Honorary President and Honorary Chairman, respectively.”

Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE)

The Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) is “an independent non-profit economic and public policy research institution founded on the idea that evidence-based policy making is vital to the economic welfare of societies. Established in 1991 in Warsaw, CASE ... remains focused on our five core thematic areas of: (1) European Neighbourhood Policy, enlargement, trade and economic integration, (2) labour markets, human capital and social policy, (3) innovation, competitiveness and entrepreneurship, (4) reforms, growth and poverty reduction in developing and transition countries, (5) macroeconomics and public finance ... we are also broadening our geographic horizons by going beyond our traditional countries of interests, i.e., the Western Balkans and the Commonwealth of Independent States.” CASE is represented in more than thirty post-Soviet countries with subsidiaries.

Leibniz Institute

The Leibniz Institute is one of the largest academic umbrella associations in Germany. Its section Economics and Social Sciences comprises most of the academic think tanks relating to economic policies. Leibniz’s absolutist natural philosophy suggests an understanding of social relations as naturally given.

Group of Experts

INSM

“The Initiative Neue Soziale Markwirtschaft (INSM) [Initiative New Social Market Economy] is a market-liberal lobby organization, which is financed by the Employers’ Associations of the Metal and Electro Industry. Their goals include a stronger orientation of the labor market and education to the needs of entrepreneurs. ... In December 1999 the Employers’ Associations of the Metal and Electro Industry founded berolino.pr GmbH. This company was charged with setting up and leading a reform initiative. Since Autumn 2000 this limited liability company (GmbH) conducts its campaign under the name Initiative Neue Soziale Markwirtschaft. The sole shareholder of berolino.pr / INSM is the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln Medien GmbH [Cologne Institute for Economic Research, media section], in which the journalistic and PR activities of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research are bundled. ... Their campaigns, commissioned studies and educational materials include demands for privatization, deregulation, lower taxes, reducing subsidies, reducing labor costs, the flexibilization of the labor market (loosening protection against dismissal, flexible working hours), more self-provision in the health system, and the rapid introduction of the retirement age of 67. Minimum wages are rejected.”

adelphi

“... is a leading think tank for policy analysis and strategy consulting. The institution offers creative solutions and services regarding global environment and development challenges for policy, business, and civil society communities. ... adelphi’s clients include international organisations, governments, public institutions, corporations, and associations. ... In over ten years, adelphi has completed more than 700 projects for 100 clients, offering professional and strategic support to crucial environmental and development policies and processes. Sustainability is the foundation and leitmotif of our internal and external conduct.” adelphi is one of the initiators of emissions trading.

True Sale International

“True Sale International GmbH is a lobby organisation that primarily advocates the spread of asset-backed securities (ABS). It was created in 2004 from an initiative on the part of thirteen banks in Germany to promote the German securitisation market.”

Chatham House

“... home of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is a world-leading source of independent analysis, informed debate and influential ideas on how to build a prosperous and secure world for all. ... The institute Engages governments, the private sector, civil society and its members in open debates and confidential discussions about significant developments in international affairs; Produces independent and rigorous analysis of critical global, regional and country-specific challenges and opportunities; Offers new ideas to decision-makers and -shapers on how these could best be tackled from the near- to the long-term. ... Chatham House was founded in 1920 and is based in St James’s Square, London.” See also: www.chathamhouse.org.

Conference

Unilever

Unilever is a British-Dutch corporation. It is one of the largest producers of consumer goods in the world. Its main business sections include the production of food, cosmetics, personal care products, and household and textile cleaning agents. Among other things, Unilever is the largest consumer of palm oil in the world with 1.6 million tons each year, for which large areas of rainforest are destroyed.

Policy Brief

“A document which outlines the rationale for choosing a particular policy alternative or course of ac-tion in a current policy debate. It is commonly produced in response to a request directly from a deci-sion maker or within an organisation that intends to advocate for the position detailed in the brief. De-pending on the role of the writer or organisation producing the document, the brief may only provide a targeted discussion of the current alternatives without arguing for a particular one. ... Nevertheless for any case, as any policy debate is a market-place of competing ideas, the purpose of the policy brief is to convince the target audience of the urgency of the current problem and the need to adopt the preferred alternative or course of action outlined and therefore, serve as an impetus for action. As with all good marketing tools, the key to success is targeting the particular audience for your message. The most common audience for a policy brief is the decision maker but, it is also not unusual to use the document to support broader advocacy initiatives targeting a wide but knowledgeable audience (e.g., decision makers, journalists, diplomats, administrators, researchers).”

Business Talk

ORDO-Award

“The ORDO-Award distinguishes achievements that are innovative in the field of economic order and contribute to the further development of the social market economy. The award is presented to up-and-coming scholars and to younger people who have presented significantly innovative ideas and projects in politics, business or civil society. The jury for the ORDO-Award consists of representatives of the ‘Jenaer Allianz.’ The prize money for this award, sponsored this year by the Rheinischer Sparkassen- and Giroverband, the Sparkasse Köln Bonn, and the Kreissparkasse Köln, amounts to 10,000 Euros.”

Jena Alliance for the Renewal of Social Market Economy

“‘The Jena Alliance for the Renewal of Social Market Economy’ is a cooperative network of organizations, institutions and persons, who are committed to regulatory policy renewal of the social market economy. It was founded on the occasion of the anniversary conference ‘60 Years of Social Market Economy’ in 2008 in Jena. ... Every two years the Alliance awards the ‘ORDO-Award for Regulatory Policy Innovations’ together with the Institute for Economic Policies at the University of Cologne. Every other year the Alliance organizes the ‘Jena Convention for the Renewal of Social Market Economy’. The Walter Eucken Prize of the Economics Department at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena is awarded every two years within the framework of the Jena Convention for the Renewal of Social Market Economy.”

Friedrich Naumann

(b. 1860, Strömthal; † 1919, Travemünde) Protestant theologian and liberal politician. “The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom is a foundation associated with the FDP [Free Democratic Party of Germany]. Through its liberal institute it is involved in a number of neoliberal networks and think tanks. The members of the board of trustees Hans D. Barbier and Thomas Straubhaar are active in several market-radical organizations. The Foundation’s understanding of freedom is based on the concept that the freedom of entrepreneurial activity should be limited as little as possible by state measures for the protection of workers, consumers or the environment.”

David Ricardo

(b. 1772, London; † 1823, Gatcombe Park) was a leading proponent of classical national economy. In 1817 he published the On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation and developed an important theory of trade. “With ‘comparative advantage’ Ricardo argued in favour of industry specialisation and free trade. He attempted to prove, using simple mathematics, that industry specialisation combined with free international trade always produces positive results. ... Ricardo argued that there is mutual national benefit from trade even if one country is more competitive in every area than its trading counterpart and that a nation should concentrate resources only on industries where it had a comparative advantage, that is in those industries in which it has the greatest competitive edge. Ricardo suggested that national industries which were, in fact, profitable and internationally competitive should be jettisoned in favour of the most competitive industries. Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage assumes the existence of an industry and trade policy at a national level. It does not presume that business decisions are or should be made independently by entrepreneurs on the basis of viability or profit.”

Joseph A. Schumpeter

(b. 1883, Moravia; † 1950, Connecticut) was an Austrian-American economist. “Schumpeter became well known as a theorist of capitalism, the essence of which he characterized as creative destruction. His most important works include The Theory of Economic Development (1911) and Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942). ... The concept of creative destruction is a basic motif in Schumpeter’s work Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy: ‘The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as US Steel illustrate the same process of industrial mutation — if I may use that biological term — that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism.’”2

Friedrich August von Hayek

(b. 1899, Vienna; † 1992, Freiburg im Breisgau) was an economist and social philosopher. Along with Ludwig von Mises he was one of the most important representatives of the Austrian School of Economics, winning the Nobel Prize in 1974. He was initiator and president of the Mont Pelerin Society for many years. “In 1950 he changed to the University of Chicago and was Milton Friedman’s teacher. In 1962 he accepted a professorship at the University of Freiburg and shortly afterward became a member of the board of the Walter Eucken Institute. Hayek on the founding of the Mont Pelerin Society in 1947: ‘I am often not of the same opinion as the late Lord Keynes; but he never said anything more true than in the statement about a subject, on which he was uniquely qualified to speak due to his own experience. He wrote: “... the ideas of the national economists and philosophers have a stronger effect than is generally assumed, both when they are right and when they are wrong. ... I am convinced that the power of real interests is vastly overestimated in comparison with the gradual infiltration of ideas. Not immediately, of course, but only after a certain time; for in the field of economic and state philosophy, there are few who are influenced by new theories, once they have passed the age of 25 or 30, so that the ideas used by civil servants or politicians or even agitators are usually not the newest. But sooner or later, it is the ideas and not the interests that become dangerous, for better or worse.”3

Friedrich A. von Hayek Society

“In 1998 a group of entrepreneurs, academics and journalists founded the Friedrich A. von Hayek Society in Freiburg, which promotes Hayek’s ideas with annual events ... as well as a nation-wide essay competition. In May 1999 the Friedrich August von Hayek Foundation was also founded in Freiburg. The founder is Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG. The purpose of the foundation is the establishment of a liberal economic and social order.”

Friedrich A. v. Hayek Institute

“The Friedrich A. v. Hayek Institute was founded in 1993 to commemorate the work of Nobel Laureate Friedrich August von Hayek, and to promote the ideas of the Austrian School of Economics. As a private and independent academic research institution, it is modeled predominantly after Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, the Institute for Economics Affairs (IEA) in London, and the International Centre for Economic Research (ICER) in Turin. The Institute extensively cooperates with other like-minded think tanks, and organizes academic conferences, seminars, and lectures that tackle current economic issues.”

Walter Eucken

(b. 1891, Jena; † 1950, London) founded the Freiburg School of Ordoliberalism, which is considered the German variation of neoliberalism. “The Walter Eucken Institute was founded four years after the death of Walter Eucken by his friends and students with support from Ludwig Erhard, then German Federal Minister of Economic Affairs. The first board member was Friedrich August von Hayek. The institute calls itself an independent institution dedicated to economic and social sciences research, especially the investigation of problems for which the solutions are fundamentally important to maintaining and further developing a market economy order. With lectures, academic conferences and publications, the institute pursues the goal of making the foundations and principles of this kind of order clear to the public. Special emphasis is given to the connection of the research tradition of Walter Eucken, Franz Böhm, F.A. von Hayek, and J.M. Buchanan, along with issues of the international economic order and the state of the European economy. ... The Walter Eucken Institute evinces no distance from economic power. Indeed, its patterns of argumentation largely correspond to those of the major economic associations, with which it is also personally interdependent. Karen Horn, for instance, head of the Berlin office of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, which operates as a think tank and PR agency for BDI, BDA, and their member companies, is a member of the board of trustees for the Walter Eucken Institute and chair of the board of the Friedrich August von Hayek Society, which closely cooperates with the institute. A subsidiary of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research is the Initiative New Social Market Economy (INSM).”

Five Wise Men of the German Economy

The Council of Economic Experts reporting on macroeconomic developments, colloquially called “the five wise men”, is a five-person body that has been advising the German government since 1963 and claims scientific objectivity for itself. The criteria for judgment have a neoliberal orientation.

Corporate Social Responsibility / Good Corporate Governance

The importance of these terms increased following the first major revelations of working conditions contrary to human dignity and of environmental scandals in the globalised division of labour of international corporations such as Nike, Nokia, and Apple in the mid-1990s. They were set up as a so-called “voluntary self-obligation” of the corporations, in order to evade the obligations of laws and concomitant legal claims.

Politicians’ Talk

Alexander Rüstow

(b. 1885, Wiesbaden; † 1963, Heidelberg) was a sociologist and and economist. He coined the term neoliberalism (in 1938 at a colloquium of conservative economists in Paris). Like several of the historical “neoliberals,” however, he did not advocate a complete laissez-faire for the market, but rather that states should steer the economy, which should be oriented to the needs of the populace. He was involved in the founding of the social market economy in the post-war Federal Republic of Germany.

Organic Policy

Organic policy [Vitalpolitik] is another term originated by Rüstow – a similar conception was also developed by Wilhelm Röpke. The core idea is that market forces must be given a regulatory policy orientation in keeping with the needs of life. This cannot automatically follow from the free market. The proposed measures – subsidies for education, high inheritance tax, supporting / settling structurally weak areas – were partially implemented in the social market economy of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Ronald Coase

(b. 1910, Willesden near London; † 2013, Chicago) received the Nobel Prize for economics in 1991 for his transaction theory, which could now be applied to make international climate policies capitalisable as emissions trade. From 1964 to 1982 Coase was Professor for Law and Economics at the University of Chicago. He was a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.

James M. Buchanan

(b. 1919, Mufreesboro; † 2013, Blacksburg) was an economist who in 1986 won the Nobel Prize for economics, developed the theoretical foundation of economic liberalism tying into Thomas Hobbes’ contract theory, and was member of the Mont Pelerin Society and honorary president of the Walter Eucken Institute.

Ludwig Erhard

In 1949 Erhard became the Minister for Economic Affairs in the first federal cabinet of the Federal Republic of Germany under Konrad Adenauer. In 1963 he was elected Federal Chancellor. Erhard’s economic policies are closely tied to the conception of the social market economy in the Federal Republic of Germany, which he developed together with his State Secretary Alfred Müller-Armack, among others.

Ludwig Erhard Foundation

“The Ludwig Erhard Foundation refers to Erhard’s conviction that market economy policies must always be carefully coordinated with the respective social conditions. Market economy promotes the efficiency of the economy. The policies of social market economy have to ensure that, along with establishing and perfecting the market economy order, the situation of the population is improved and ‘prosperity for all’ spreads. ... In the Foundation’s positions there are no more incitements ... to social corrections from the state. ... Instead, in keeping with many other neoliberal think tanks and networks, the market is propagated as the cure-all, which is to prevail as far as possible through privatisation and deregulation.”

Ludwig von Mises

(b. 1881, Lemburg; † 1973, New York), economist, theorist of liberalism and one of the most important representatives of the Austrian School of Economics, co-founder of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research and economic consultant for the Austrian government, emigrated to the US in 1940, taught from 1945 to 1969 at the New York University and was a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. Von Mises took a neoliberal position on a utilitarian and Kantian foundation that provides for increasing the wellbeing of all. He provided “as no other the (economic) theoretical foundation for the system of free markets, which is based on the unconditional respect for private property, and ... rejected every form of state intervention in economic and social life as counterproductive.” There are numerous Ludwig von Mises Institutes around the world, most recently in Germany in October 2012.

Jean Claude Juncker

(b. 1954, Luxembourg), Minister of Finance from 1989–2009 and  Prime Minister from 1995–2013, was the longest-serving head of government in the European Union. Since 2005 he is also head of the Euro Group, and he has received numerous honours such as “European Banker of the Year” in 2008. On Juncker in 2010: “‘I would like to see our Greek friends follow the example of the German Treuhandanstalt and found a privatisation agency independent from the government. It should also be composed of foreign experts.’ ... Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Juncker ... thinks that corrupt Greek politicians should sell off their country (following the) ‘example of the German Treuhandanstalt.’ ... From the chief lobbyist of the second largest tax haven of the world, he became the chief lobbyist of the European major banks. Luxembourg is second only to Switzerland for the largest number of letterbox companies registered there, through which the privatisation agency sold off the assets of the German Democratic Republic and turned East Germany into a colonised special economic zone with a high unemployment rate and low wages.”4

Walter Hallstein

(b. 1901, Mainz; † 1982, Stuttgart) became the first Chairman of the Commission of the European Economic Community in 1958. ... In late 1959 he published the Hallstein Plan, which envisaged a stronger common market of the EEC countries while liberalising foreign trade at the same time. In the following years there were negotiations about this project, which was then implemented in early 1962 following long discussions, especially about agricultural policies.

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

(b. 1949, Peine) was Professor for Economic Theory at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas from 1986 to 2008 and is a Distinguished Fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute (Auburn / Alabama). “For Hoppe as a thought leader of anarcho-capitalism, the state is not a moral institution. In addition, he considers democracy a ‘civilizational decline’ in comparison with the past feudal social order ... In a monarchy the state is private property and the monarch has a personal interest in the wellbeing of his property, whereas this is not the case for politicians and civil servants in a democracy.”

Property and Freedom Society

In 2006 he founded the Property and Freedom Society. Hoppe on the Mont Pelerin Society: “During the 1990s, I was three times invited as a speaker. ... Each time, with papers attacking democracy and egali-tarianism, defending monarchies vs. democracies, eviscerating the classical-liberal idea of a minimal-state as self-contradictory, and propagating a stateless, anarcho-capitalist natural order ... Whatever the function of the Mont Pelerin Society may have been in the immediate aftermath of WWII, at the time of my encounter with it, I did not find it particularly to my liking. ... Essentially, Mont Pelerin Society meetings were junkets for ‘free-market’ and ‘limited-government’ think-tank and foundation staffers, their various professorial affiliates and protégées, and the principal donor-financiers of it all, mostly from the US, and more specifically from Washington DC. ... The deplorable development ... of the Mont Pelerin Society was ... the necessary consequence of a fundamental theoretical flaw committed not only by Hayek but, ultimately, also by Mises, with his idea of a minimal state. This flaw ... af-flicted the entire ‘limited-government’ think-tank industry that had sprung up as its offspring since the 1960s throughout the Western, US-dominated world. ... The State and the free-market think-tank indus-try thus live in perfect harmony with each other. ... Yet so much the easier, then, was it for the State to target and effectively control this industry. The State only had to set up its own bureaucracy in charge of free-market-relations and lure the limited-government NGOs with conferences, invitations, sponsor-ships, grants, money and employment prospects. ... These measures alone were sufficient to ensure compliance on the part of the free-market think-tank industry and its associated intellectuals. The mar-ket demand for intellectual services is low and fickle and hence intellectuals can be bought up cheaply!”5

Hernando de Soto Polar

(b. 1941, Arequipa, Peru) is a Peruvian economist and business consultant. De Soto especially considers the informal economy to be a hindrance for the development of underdeveloped countries and calls for a stronger institutionalisation of property. “De Soto studied economics and politics at the the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. ... After working as a political economist for GATT from 1968 to 1971, he was president of the executive committee of the Intergovernmental Council of Countries Exporters of Copper (CIPEC), before becoming director of the Swiss Bank Corporation Consultant Group. In 1979 he returned to Peru, first as the manager of a mining corporation. In the same year he was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Peru. In 1980 he founded his consultant company Instituto de Libertad y Democracia (ILD). ... In 1989 de Soto became advisor to President Alan García Pérez and from 1990 to 1992 advisor to Alberto Fujimori. ... In addition to Vladimir Putin, meanwhile 29 heads of states of developing and threshold countries are advised by him.”

Think Tank Staff

Donor Acceptor Principle

The donor acceptor principle takes place in chemical reactions, in which a particle is transferred from one reaction partner (donor) to the other reaction partner (acceptor).

Public Relations

Atlas Network

The Atlas Economic Research Foundation was founded by Antony Fisher in 1981 to promote liberal policies. In 2001 the Foundation’s budget amounted to about 2.5 million US dollars. The Foundation describes itself as “a nonprofit organization connecting a global network of more than 400 free-market organizations in over 80 countries to the ideas and resources needed to advance the cause of liberty. ... Our mission is to strengthen the worldwide freedom movement by identifying, training, and supporting individuals with the potential to found and develop effective independent organizations that promote our vision in every country.”

Denkwerk Zukunft

“Denkwerk Zukunft – Stiftung kulturelle Erneuerung [Denkwerk Zukunft – Foundation for Cultural Renewal] was founded on 6 October 2007 by Professor Dr. Meinhard Miegel, a founder and former director of the Bonn Institute for Economic and Social Research IWG Bonn e.V., and Dipl.rer.pol. Dieter Paulmann, the founder and long-standing CEO and subsequently the chairman of the supervisory board of the Deutsche Industrie Service AG. ... A pre-condition for a culture which is generally applicable and viable for the future is a basic change in awareness, a cultural renewal. The present understanding of prosperity must be freed from its material restrictions and expanded by non-economic areas of culture.”

The German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik

“The German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) is one of the leading think tanks for global development and international cooperation worldwide. ... Research at DIE is theory-based, empirically driven and application-oriented. It provides the basis for the consulting activities of the Institute. DIE develops policy-relevant concepts, advises ministries, governments and international organisations, and refers to current policy issues. The training programmes of the Institute for university graduates and young professionals are integrated into the research and advisory process.”

Global Governance School

“The Global Governance School (GGS) is the scholarly part of the Training and Dialogue Format ‘Managing Global Governance’ (MGG). The courses are aimed at highly qualified young professionals from currently eight anchor countries (Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa), who work in government bodies, policy-oriented think tanks and research institutions. It is implemented jointly by the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).”

Troika

Peterson Institute for International Economics

“Since 1981 the Institute has provided timely and objective analysis of, and concrete solutions to, a wide range of international economic problems. ... It was voted ‘best think tank in the world’ in 2008 by the first global survey of over 5,000 such institutions ... The Institute attempts to anticipate emerging issues and to be ready with practical ideas, presented in user-friendly formats, to inform and shape public debate. Its audience includes government officials and legislators, business and labor leaders, management and staff at international organizations, university-based scholars and their students, other research institutions and nongovernmental organizations, the media, and the public at large. ... The Institute’s agenda emphasizes global macroeconomic policy, international finance and exchange rates, trade and investment, energy and the environment. ... Institute staff and research cover all key regions especially Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as the United States itself and with special reference to China, India, Korea, and Russia. ... Institute studies have helped provide the intellectual foundation for many of the major international policy initiatives of the past three decades: reforms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), including those initiated by the G-20 in 2009–2010; adoption of international banking standards and broader financial regulatory reforms; the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and Trans-Pacific Partnership; the restoration and then extension of trade promotion authority in the United States; the development of the World Trade Organization; the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other US free trade agreements (including with Korea notably); initiation and implementation of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue between the United States and China; a series of United States-Japan negotiations; reform of sanctions policy; liberalization of US export controls and export credits, and specific trade issues such as permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) for China in 2000 and Russia in 2012, import protection for steel, and Buy American legislation in 2009.”

DIW – German Institute for Economic Research

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) is one of the leading economic research institutions in Germany. Its core mandates are applied economic research and economic policy as well as provision of research infrastructure. ... The institute was founded in 1925 as Institut für Konjunkturforschung [Institute for Economic Cycle Research]. ... As a member of the Leibniz Society, DIW Berlin is predominantly publicly funded.