Timo Wollmershäuser

Prof. Dr. Timo Wollmershäuser is Deputy Director of the ifo Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys and Head of Economic Research and Forecasting at the ifo Institute in Munich. He is affiliated with the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he has held acting professorships. His work focuses on German and international economic analysis, monetary policy of the European Central Bank, and macroeconomic forecasting.

• Deputy Director, ifo Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys (since 2017)
• Head of Economic Research and Forecasting, ifo Institute
• Acting Professor, LMU Munich (2009–2016)
• Habilitation and PhD, University of Würzburg

Wollmershäuser’s research interests include macroeconomics, monetary policy, business cycle analysis, fiscal policy, and structural change in the German economy. He has extensively analyzed inflation dynamics, Eurozone imbalances, TARGET2 balances, and the economic impact of crises such as the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. His work integrates theoretical models with empirical forecasting and policy evaluation.

His recent publications show a strong trend toward interdisciplinary analysis, combining macroeconomic modeling with health economics, energy policy, and industrial transformation. He frequently contributes to high-impact journals and policy reports, emphasizing real-time economic assessment and the distributional effects of macroeconomic shocks.

• Monetary Policy & Eurozone: TARGET2 balances, interest rate pass-through, financial frictions
• Crisis Economics: Pandemic and energy crisis impacts, scenario modeling
• Forecasting: ifo Business Climate Index, ifoCAST, structural budget balances
• Structural Change: Manufacturing, labor markets, hybrid products

He has received several scientific awards, including the ifo Institute’s prize for third-party funding management (2016), the VAC Jubiläumspreis (2009), and the Dissertationspreis der Unterfränkischen Gedenkjahresstiftung (2005). He has also been a Research Affiliate at CESifo since 2006.

Wollmershäuser actively advises on economic policy, leads major research projects (e.g., Gemeinschaftsdiagnose, coronavirus impact studies), and collaborates with institutions such as the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie and KfW. He has supervised numerous research teams and co-authored works with leading economists like Hans-Werner Sinn and Oliver Hülsewig.

He is involved in several ongoing projects, including analyses of labor and energy shortages, the economic effects of a four-day workweek, and the development of big data indicators for economic forecasting. He also contributes to public discourse through media appearances and press releases from the ifo Institute.