Research Profile

Rich in tradition, the faculty is one of the largest and most research-intensive in Germany. It was here that Ludwig Erhard earned his doctoral degree, Erich Gutenberg taught and Reinhard Selten, Germany’s first Nobel Prize laureate in economic sciences, completed his habilitation. Frankfurt is the academic home of many business and economics professors currently working at German universities.

At the present time, over 65 professors and a large number of academic staff / early career researchers are teaching and conducting research at the faculty. They have been collaborating on an interdisciplinary basis in various departments since 2000 (see below), in this way removing the classic demarcation between economics and business administration.

Current research priorities, predominantly in basic research, are:

Digitalization & Data Science
Growth, Development & Innovation
Money & Finance
Organization & Governance

In addition, the faculty profits from close cooperation with renowned research institutions (e.g. the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE (“Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe”)), a modern research infrastructure and the proximity to international companies and organizations in Frankfurt am Main.

Finance

Research activities cover a broad spectrum and range from topics such as asset pricing, portfolio management and insurance economics to current issues related to pension plans and financial literacy.

Money & Macroeconomics

The department’s research areas include macroeconomics and related topics, e.g. economic fluctuations, economic growth, macroeconomic theory, monetary economics, as well as the macroeconomic aspects of labor markets, financial markets, banking, development economics, household finance, foreign trade, macroeconometrics and computational economics.

Management & Microeconomics

The department focuses on the analysis of markets and organizations. This includes the fundamentals of human behavior as well as empirical studies, e.g. on competition policy, innovative entrepreneurship, organizational design, human resources, leadership, and the efficiency of political and financial markets.

Marketing

The Department of Marketing stands for sound marketing decisions based on the innovative use of new data sources and advanced statistical methods.

Accounting

The department examines the role of transparency in internal corporate decisions and communication with external addressees. This centers on questions of internal and external accounting and sustainability reporting, using theoretical models and empirical approaches.

Business Informatics & Information Economics

The aim of the department’s current research activities is to find answers to topical, practice-related questions, e.g. in relation to applied machine learning, multilateral security and electronic trading.

Business Education

Research topics include identification and career choice; work ethic; entrepreneurship education; logic of learning, implicit knowledge and intuitive decision-making; teacher reflection; learning from mistakes and scaffolding. The department also explores questions related to business ethics and moral economy, financial literacy and business competence as well as use of practical phases in the transition between school and professional training.

Economic Policy and Quantitative Methods

The members of the department teach and conduct research on quantitative methods and applied economic policy issues in development economics, public finance, and growth, among other areas.