Information
Membership Number: FCA3604
Membership Type: Fellowship
Division: Social Sciences
Corresponding Email: ******f.zimmermann@gmail.com
Homepage(s): https://www.klausfzimmermann.de/
https://unu.edu/merit/about/expert/prof-dr-klaus-f-zimmermann
Present and Previous Positions
Co – Director, POP – Centre for Population, Development and Labour Economics at UNU – MERIT (United Nations University Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology), Maastricht
President, Global Labor Organization (GLO), since 2017.
Editor-in-Chief, Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics (Springer), since 2017; Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Population Economics, since 1988.
Full Professor of Economics, University of Bonn, from 1998, Professor Emeritus since 2017.
Founding Director, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn), 1998; Director, 1998–2016.
President, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), 2000–2011.
Full Professor of Economic Theory, University of Munich, 1989–1998; Director, Seminar for Labor and Population Economics (SELAPO).
Honorary Professor, Free University Berlin, since 2001; Honorary Professor, Renmin University of China, since 2006; Honorary Professor, Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, since 2019; Honorary Professor, Institute for Economic and Social Research, Jinan University, since 2024; Honorary Professor, University of Edinburgh Business School, 2025–2028.
Chair, Section 25 “Economics and Empirical Social Sciences,” and elected Senator, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, 2023–2027.
Fields of Scholarship and Research Interests
Labor Economics; Migration Economics; Population Economics; Development Economics; Applied Econometrics
Professor Klaus F. Zimmermann is a distinguished economist whose scholarship has made a major mark on the study of labor markets, migration, population change, and the economic consequences of demographic transformation. Across several decades, his work has brought together theory, empirical analysis, and policy engagement, with particular attention to migration flows, migrant assimilation, labor-market adjustment, ethnic identity, demographic change, and the institutional conditions under which mobility shapes economic life.
A defining feature of his career is the way he has helped establish migration and population economics as central fields of modern economic inquiry rather than peripheral specializations. His work has consistently linked academic rigor with public relevance, addressing questions that lie at the intersection of economics, society, and policy: how migration transforms labor markets, how aging and population change reshape economies, and how evidence-based research can guide responses to large structural challenges.
Honors, Awards and Other Membership
Fellow of the European Economic Association (EEA).
Member and Senator of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina; Chair of its Section “Economics and Empirical Social Sciences” (2023–2027).
Member of Academia Europaea.
Member of the Regional Science Academy.
Distinguished John G. Diefenbaker Award, Canada Council for the Arts (1998).
Outstanding Contribution Award, European Investment Bank (2013).
Rockefeller Foundation Policy Fellow (2017).
Eminent Research Scholar Award, University of Melbourne / Melbourne Institute (2017).
EBES Fellow Award, Eurasia Business and Economics Society (2018).
IEA Fellow Award, International Economic Association (2022).
Springer Nature Editor of Distinction Awards for the Journal of Population Economics, including the Editorial Contribution Award and the Author Service Award (2025).
Selected Publications
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9-mNytAAAAAJ&hl=en
Zimmermann, Klaus F. “The European Migration Problem.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 9, no. 2 (1995): 45–62.
Zimmermann, Klaus F., ed. Migration: The Controversies and the Evidence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Bauer, Thomas, and Klaus F. Zimmermann, eds. The Economics of Migration. 4 vols. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2002.
Zimmermann, Klaus F., ed. European Migration: What Do We Know? Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Bonin, Holger, Robert Fahr, Hans Hinte, and Klaus F. Zimmermann. Immigration Policy and the Labor Market: The German Experience and Lessons for Europe. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2007.
Constant, Amelie F., and Klaus F. Zimmermann, eds. International Handbook on the Economics of Migration. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013.
Zimmermann, Klaus F. “What We Know About European Migration.” In European Migration: What Do We Know?, 1–14. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Zaiceva, Anzelika, and Klaus F. Zimmermann. “Migration and the Demographic Shift.” In Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, Vol. A, 119–177. North Holland, 2016.
Other Information
Professor Zimmermann’s career is notable not only for the range and depth of his scholarship, but also for his role in building institutions, journals, and international networks that have shaped whole areas of economic research. He founded IZA and led it for nearly two decades, later became President of the Global Labor Organization, and for many years has guided the Journal of Population Economics. In these roles, he has helped create enduring platforms for research, publication, and policy dialogue on labor, migration, and population change across Europe and far beyond.