The Groningen Growth and Development Centre: 25 years of telling the story of the world economy through data

The Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC) was founded in 1992 within the Economics Department of the University of Groningen. It recently marked 25 years since its founding, with a jubilee conference on the themes that have long been key to the centre’s work: long-run growth, productivity and global value chains.

Originally, GGDC was set up by a group of researchers working on comparative analysis of economic performance over time and across countries in the tradition of Angus Maddison. More recently, it has grown into a research centre that studies the interactions of globalisation, technology and institutional change, and its impact on long-run economic growth, structural change, productivity and inequality.

International reputation

‘The GGDC has acquired an international reputation as provider of high-quality research and statistics on economic growth. This has been developed through a strategy of local capacity building, international cooperation, and public sharing of research results,’ said current director Marcel Timmer, professor of economic growth and development at the Faculty of Economics and Business, in the latest FEB blog. ‘The importance of teamwork cannot be overestimated. Our impact as a group is so much more than that any individual could achieve.’

More information

• Read the full blog: 25 years of telling the story of the world economy through data
• Contact: Marcel Timmer
• See also: the GGDC website

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