The Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy was established in fall 2009, approximately one year after the outbreak of the economic crisis. In this regard, the institute is investigating the causes and consequences of the economic and financial crisis, as well as its cultural and political implications.

The Institute for the Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy considers economics to be a social science, subsequently taking an interdisciplinary approach to conduct research on theory and include conceptual diversity and openness in our work. Our research not only takes ideas and perspectives of mainstream economics into consideration, it also includes concepts and methods in other scientific disciplines – such as sociology, management studies or political science – as well as alternative approaches to economics. The latter encompasses contributions to socio-economics and heterodox economics by scholars, such as Max Weber, Joseph A. Schumpeter, John Maynard Keynes, and Karl Polanyi.

The Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy applies an explicit interdisciplinary and pluralistic approach that aims to mimic Kurt W. Rothschild, opens an external URL in a new window's (†2010) approach to methodological tradition. Kurt W. Rotschild was one of Austria’s most internationally renowned economists of the 20^th century.