ZEW Congratulates Founding Member and Tax Expert Otto H. Jacobs on His 80th Birthday

On 12 October 2019 Professor Otto H. Jacobs celebrated his 80th birthday. The board of directors and the staff of ZEW Mannheim would like to offer their congratulations on this special occasion.

Professor Jacobs was a member of the expert commission for the founding of the institute and was particularly committed to its being established in Mannheim. Jacobs was instrumental in the subsequent development of ZEW into one of the leading economic research institutes in Europe. He was a member of the ZEW Supervisory Board from 1991 to 2016. “In this committee, he was involved in the discussions on the institute’s targeted expansion and its European orientation, and thus contributed much to its success,” says ZEW Director Thomas Kohl.

In addition to his research and teaching activities at the University of Mannheim, Jacobs also served as a Research Associate in the ZEW Research Department “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance”. In particular, he created the basis for the European Tax Analyzer, a computer-based simulation programme for the international comparison of tax burdens in 33 countries, and contributed greatly to the high reputation that this Research Department enjoys today in Germany and abroad.

Jacobs is regarded as one of the most important economists in the field of national and international business administration and taxation. His research on international tax planning, international tax burden comparisons and tax reforms has earned him considerable recognition in Germany and abroad. Since his retirement in 2006, his successor at the University of Mannheim, Professor Christoph Spengel, has worked closely with ZEW as a Research Associate.