The economic importance of the energy industry

The sufficient and constant availability of energy is an indispensable prerequisite for the economic development of highly developed industrialised countries. This is true for all areas of a modern national economy, including the production sector, the transportation and the service sectors and private households. With the use of energy in its different forms, it is possible, together with the employment of other agents of production, to achieve a lasting increase in labour productivity, to further develop and optimise the division of labour as well as to clearly reduce time-consuming activities. Against the background of the demand for energy of developed national economies in almost all areas and the resulting importance, the Ifo Institute has examined the economic importance of the power industry as a whole and in particular the electricity supply. The emphases and main results of the study are presented in this article.