With its international alignment, Economics as taught at Freie Universität is considered one of the most dynamic and successful groupings of researchers in Europe. The academic unit explicitly focuses on the field of financial studies where scholars discuss issues of current politics, taxes, regulation, and labor market policies. This concentration, which is spurred in part by the university’s physical proximity to Germany’s political center, represents a special feature in the economics research landscape.

Another central field is applied microeconomics, which considers the governance of markets and organizations. Researchers in this field focus particularly on the applications of microeconomics and game theory in the areas of industrial economics, information economics, and contract theory. Researchers working in economic policy within the academic unit continue Berlin’s longstanding tradition as a center of monetary macroeconomics and pay particular attention to the areas of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), while also studying the design of bodies responsible for monetary policy as well as central bank communications.