Institute of Economics and Law

Prof. Dr. Frank C. Englmann

The department’s focal points of research are innovation, national debt, financial markets and their macroeconomics modeling as well as traffic and infrastructural economics. These areas are completed by questions of economic policy, especially in regards to social and environmental policy.

T.T. Prof. Dr. Richard Bluhm

The team of the professorship of macroeconomics and digital transformation works in the following areas:  economic growth, development economics, political economy, and applied econometrics/ data science. Our research focuses primarily on the spatial distribution of economic activity, the political economy (of growth, environmental policy, and public goods), and the measurement of income and inequality. We study policy-relevant research questions using modern empirical methods, big data (e.g., satellite images), and—where suitable—formal theory. The ongoing digital transformation has a lasting influence on our research, as it keeps posing new research questions and drives the development of research methods in economics toward big data and machine learning. 

Our teaching in both undergraduate and more advanced courses is research-based. Among others, we offer the core macroeconomics course (starting in summer 2024), classes in economic growth and economic aspects of infrastructure planning, and seminars on current topics in economics.

Prof. Dr. Bernd Woeckener

The Department of Microeconomics and Spatial Economics currently focuses on two main areas of research: The first field of research is Network economics. Here we are concerned with the regulation of digital network industries and the (in)compatibility of networks. The second focus lies on the economics of the housing market. In this area we deal with the regulation of the housing market for renters, especially with a reform of the ‘qualified rent table’ as a central instrument for regulation.  

Prof. Dr. Daniela Winkler

The main research focus of the chair lies in environmental and energy law as well as in planning law (area and sectoral planning). Questions of a sustainable and fair resource use are of special importance. Another key area is the application of this context to participation law, in which problems of integrating the above question in a democracy are researched.

The chair is responsible for the Master’s program ‘Planning and Participation’. The cooperation of six institutes from three faculties of the University of Stuttgart facilitates an interdisciplinary network of professional expertise from the areas of planning, social, and environmental sciences as well as engineering and law.