Package {ifo}

Title: Client for the Ifo Institute Time Series
Version: 0.3.0
Description: Download ifo business survey data and more time series from ifo institute https://www.ifo.de/en/ifo-time-series.
License: MIT + file LICENSE
URL: https://m-muecke.github.io/ifo/, https://github.com/m-muecke/ifo
BugReports: https://github.com/m-muecke/ifo/issues
Depends: R (≥ 4.1.0)
Imports: curl, data.table (≥ 1.16.0), readxl, rvest (≥ 1.0.0)
Suggests: ggplot2, knitr, testthat (≥ 3.3.0)
Config/Needs/website: bbk, knitr, lmtest, rmarkdown
Config/roxygen2/markdown: TRUE
Config/roxygen2/version: 8.1.0
Config/testthat/edition: 3
Encoding: UTF-8
NeedsCompilation: no
Packaged: 2026-09-19 10:45:31 UTC; mmuecke
Author: Maximilian Mücke ORCID iD [aut, cre]
Maintainer: Maximilian Mücke <muecke.maximilian@gmail.com>
Repository: CRAN
Date/Publication: 2026-09-20 00:40:08 UTC

ifo: Client for the Ifo Institute Time Series

Description

Download ifo business survey data and more time series from ifo institute https://www.ifo.de/en/ifo-time-series.

Author(s)

Maintainer: Maximilian Mücke muecke.maximilian@gmail.com (ORCID)

Authors:

See Also

Useful links:

Return ifo business climate data

Description

Return ifo business climate data

Usage

ifo_business(
  type = c("germany", "sectors", "eastern", "saxony"),
  long_format = TRUE
)

Arguments

type

(character(1))
Defaults to "germany". One of:

  • "germany": returns the ifo business climate index for Germany.

  • "sectors": returns the ifo business climate index for different sectors.

  • "eastern": returns the ifo business climate index for eastern Germany.

  • "saxony": returns the ifo business climate index for Saxony.

long_format

(logical(1))
If TRUE return the data in long format. Only applies to type "germany" and "sectors". Default TRUE.

Details

With long_format = TRUE, type = "germany" and type = "sectors" return one observation per row in value. The other columns describe each observation:

For type = "sectors", sector = "industry" corresponds to "Industry and Trade" in the source. It is the only sector available as both an index and a balance; all other sectors are balances.

For type = "germany", uncertainty and economic_expansion repeat across the six indicator and series combinations for each month.

Value

A data.frame() containing the monthly ifo business climate time series.

Source

https://www.ifo.de/en/ifo-time-series

See Also

The article for a reproducible example.

Examples



business <- ifo_business("germany")
head(business)

Return ifo climate data

Description

Return ifo climate data

Usage

ifo_climate(type = c("import", "export", "world", "euro"))

Arguments

type

(character(1))
Defaults to "import". One of:

  • "import": returns the ifo import climate.

  • "export": returns the ifo export climate.

  • "world": returns the ifo world economic climate.

  • "euro": returns the ifo world economic climate for the euro zone.

Details

type = "import" and type = "export" return seasonally adjusted indices. In the export data, special_trade instead gives the annual percentage change in special-trade exports. type = "world" and type = "euro" return balances. The source provides these two series only through the fourth quarter of 2019.

Value

A data.frame() containing the ifo climate time series. Monthly for "import" and "export", quarterly for "world" and "euro".

Source

https://www.ifo.de/en/ifo-time-series

References

Grimme C, Lehmann R, Nöller M (2018). “Das ifo Importklima – ein erster Frühindikator für die Prognose der deutschen Importe.” ifo Schnelldienst, 71(12), 27–32.

Grimme, Christian, Lehmann, Robert, Nöller, Marvin (2021). “Forecasting imports with information from abroad.” Economic Modelling, 98, 109–117.

Examples



climate <- ifo_climate("import")
head(climate)

Return ifo expectation data

Description

Return ifo expectation data

Usage

ifo_expectation(type = c("export", "employment"))

Arguments

type

(character(1))
Defaults to "export". One of:

  • "export": returns the ifo export expectations for manufacturing.

  • "employment": returns the ifo employment barometer for Germany.

Details

For type = "employment", expectation contains the employment barometer, an index with 2015 = 100. manufacturing, construction, trade, and service_sector contain balances.

Value

A data.frame() containing the monthly ifo expectation time series.

Source

https://www.ifo.de/en/ifo-time-series

Examples



expectation <- ifo_expectation("export")
head(expectation)

Return ifo business climate vintage data

Description

Return ifo business climate vintage data

Usage

ifo_vintage(
  type = c("germany", "industry", "manufacturing", "services", "trade", "wholesale",
    "retail", "construction")
)

Arguments

type

(character(1))
Defaults to "germany". One of:

  • "germany": returns the vintages of the ifo business climate index for Germany.

  • "industry", "manufacturing", "services", "trade", "wholesale", "retail", "construction": returns the vintages of the ifo business climate for the sector.

Details

A vintage is the time series as published in a given month. Each vintage runs from the start of the series to its own release month, so later vintages contain more months and may revise earlier values, for example through seasonal adjustment. The output contains one observation per row in value. The other columns describe each observation:

type = "germany" and type = "industry" return an index with 2015 = 100. All other sectors return balances. type = "industry" corresponds to "Industry and Trade" in the source. ifo updates the vintage workbooks less often than the monthly releases, so the latest vintage can lag the current ifo_business() release by several months.

Value

A data.frame() containing the monthly ifo business climate vintages in long format.

Source

https://www.ifo.de/en/ifo-time-series

Examples



vintage <- ifo_vintage("germany")
head(vintage)