The Chair "Political Economy of Developing and Emerging Countries" has been in existence since September 2006. We study development processes in low-income states, the interests of the local, national and international actors involved in these processes and the institutional framework conditions that lead to poverty reduction and growth. One focus of our work is education policy, with an emphasis on analysing the efficiency and sustainability of reforms, taking into account the influence of stakeholders. Other research topics include international climate policy, microfinance and the influence of poverty reduction strategies (PRSP) on democratisation processes. The chair works primarily empirically, using household surveys, student surveys and experiments.