Economics ranking (every two years, odd-numbered years)

The Handelsblatt regularly assesses (since 2006) the research performance of economics departments based on the academic journal publications by its research staff. The Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research at the ETH Zurich and DICE (University of Düsseldorf) analyse more than 2200 academic journals for the assessment on behalf of the Handelsblatt, which helps to determine the final ranking of departments and institutes. The WiSo Faculty reached 2021 the ninth place among German-speaking universities (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). That means it is currently in fifth place among German universities. (Source: Handelsblatt ranking VWL 2021)

Ranking positions Researchers of the WiSo Faculty in the 2021 Handelsblatt VWL Ranking (as of September 2021):

Category "Current Research Achievement (in the last five years)":

Prof. Dr Axel Ockenfels (32nd place) and Prof. Dr Christopher Roth (64th place)

"Lifetime Achievement (Overall Research Achievement)":

Prof. Dr. Matthias Sutter (39th place), Prof. Dr. Patrick Schmitz (41st place) and Prof. Dr. Axel Ockenfels (80th place)

Category "Researchers under 40 (overall research performance)":

Prof. Dr. Erik Hornung (13th place), Prof. Dr. Dominik Wied (33rd place), Prof. Dr. Alexander Westkamp (34th place), Prof. Dr. Christopher Roth (42nd place) and Prof. Dr. Christoph Schottmüller (47th place)

According to these rankings, Erik Hornung is the third best researcher at a German university after Davide Cantoni of LMU Munich and Florian Zimmermann of the Briq Institute, which belongs to the University of Bonn. Furthermore, five researchers from the University of Cologne are currently in this ranking, more than from any other German university.