About IZA

The IZA-Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, comprising about 2,000 top-level scholars from all over the globe, whose research provides answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. IZA’s key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society, and to contribute to social and economic discourse, enabling political decision-making to be based on the best available scientific knowledge.

IZA aims to facilitate the communication of existing knowledge while at the same time stimulating research to close knowledge gaps. This approach is seen as complementary to purely academic research. The transfer of scientific knowledge is an important task that has often been undervalued in traditional research and requires extra efforts. Regarding its own research activities, IZA’s mission is to focus on the provision of scientifically based answers to policy-relevant questions that are not yet sufficiently covered by existing findings.

Our independent non-profit work is supported by Deutsche Post Foundation.