Featured Datasets

Access High-Impact Data with Featured Datasets

from the BERD-IAB Partnership
from the BERD-TRR 266 Cooperation
from the BERD-ZEW Partnership

Discover high-impact data through the Featured Datasets collection, a curated selection resulting from key collaborations with BERD@NFDI’s partners. These datasets span diverse fields and provide valuable insights for advancing research in business, economics, and related social sciences.

IAB – Institute for Employment Research

The IAB focuses on labor market research to provide informed, expert advice to policymakers across various levels. Drawing on the expertise of economists, sociologists, and scholars from diverse social science and methodological backgrounds, the IAB delivers a robust foundation for evidence-based labor market policies through its well-integrated national and international research efforts.

IAB-SMART Mobility

The IAB-SMART Mobility data adds smartphone-based information on movement patterns to the Panel Labor Market and Social Security (PASS). Participants from PASS wave 11 (2017) with Android phones installed the IAB-SMART app, which tracked their location (with consent) from January to August 2018. This data includes details like the number of places visited and time spent at home, helping researchers study mobility in relation to employment and unemployment. The mobility data complements PASS survey results and can be linked to IAB’s administrative data (PASS-ADIAB).

TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency

The “TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency” is a trans-regional Collaborative Research Center funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). With over 100 researchers, it investigates how accounting and taxation influence firm and regulatory transparency, as well as how transparency and regulation shape the economy and society. Its goal is to contribute to the development of effective regulations that enhance corporate transparency and establish a transparent tax system. The center is also committed to ensuring transparency in its own research activities.

German Business Panel

The German Business Panel (GBP) provides evidence on the expectations, plans, and preferences of firm decision-makers. Unique features include its daily frequency, regional granularity, and industry-specific depth. For example, the GBP daily business database captures insights such as pricing plans, investment intentions, exit risks, and satisfaction with economic policy at a daily level. Regional variation can be analyzed at the state level or even at the municipality level of a firm’s headquarters. For specific industries, the GBP offers detailed evidence. For example, the GBP tax advisor survey allows researchers to study trends and heterogeneity at the occupational level. The GBP is known for its extraordinarily high data quality, is frequently cited in top academic publications, and contributes to evidence-based economic policy.

Mannheim Innovation Panel

The MIP provides important information about the introduction of new products, services and processes, expenditures for innovations, ways to achieve economic success with new products, new services and improved processes. In addition, the MIP collects information on a number of competition-related issues which allows studying various topics in industrial economics.

Mannheim Web Panel (MWP)

A panel dataset of website contents extracted from corporate websites for a large sample of German companies.

IAB/ZEW Start-Up Panel

A long-term survey of start-up businesses conducted by ZEW, in collaboration with Creditreform and the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). It gathers annual data on 5,000–6,000 start-ups through telephone interviews, covering all sectors except agriculture, mining, and the public sector. The sample includes both high-tech companies and firms from other industries. Since 2008, the panel has surveyed around 21,000 firms founded between 2005 and 2015.

ZEW Research Data for On-Site Analysis and Education Use

The ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, founded in 1990 in collaboration with the University of Mannheim, is one of Germany’s leading economic research institutions with a strong European presence. Its mission is to conduct research that addresses practical issues like digitalization, taxes, equal opportunities, and climate protection. As a partner of BERD@NFDI, ZEW enhances Germany’s research data infrastructure, providing access to company data for on-site analysis at the ZEW-FDZ.

BERD Desktop

The BERD Desktop enables researchers to access and analyze the data of the research data center of the ZEW remotely.

Access the BERD Desktop