Our Research

The gradually accelerating demographic change is the background of this mission and belongs to the most important social developments of the next decades. This is not a new insight. Nevertheless, most of the public debate and scientific research in Europe is centered around the direct socio-political consequences only, especially the sustainability or reform of pay-as-you-go systems. Demographic change, however, has a much more fundamental impact on the economy. It will trigger large structural changes and influence all central markets – labor markets, goods and services markets, as well as capital markets in Germany and abroad. It will be the main task of MEA to develop the necessary tools for quantitative analysis and subsequently provide help and advice in this area.

The MEA’s analytical research includes topics related to social policy, especially retirement behavior, and public and private pensions. Important focuses of health econometrics are econometric methods that are able to isolate causal effects which generate the gradient of health with respect to social status.

Research Units