News
On behalf of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Swiss Economics has updated its findings on the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical measures to combat the pandemic.
Swiss Economics has examined the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions ("NPI") to contain the coronavirus (to the Swiss Economics study) for a second time. This is an update of the meta-analysis on this topic commissioned by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in June 2020. In addition to the question of the effectiveness of NPI, the study also evaluates the literature on the costs of particular measures and discusses the findings on factors such as the weather and the acceptance of NPI among the population. In the course of combating the pandemic, the question of the optimal level of intervention also arose in Switzerland. Another part of the study is devoted to this question.
Felix Wüthrich and Luca Apreda now Economist, Eva Zuberbühler und Nicolas Eschenbaum now Senior Economist
We are expanding our team:
Felix Wüthrich strengthens our team as an Economist in the areas of environmental economics, behavioural economics and data analysis. During his studies at ETH Zurich, Felix already completed an internship at Swiss Economics and subsequently supported our team as an Analyst.
Luca Apreda, now also Economist, has a focus on regulation and quantitative methods. After completing his Master's degree at the University of Bern, Luca joined Swiss Economics as an Analyst.
Dr. Eva Zuberbühler has been promoted to Senior Economist. Her expertise lies in the areas of regulation, competition, strategy and pricing. Prior to completing her PhD in industrial economics at the University of Bern, Eva worked as a corporate client advisor at a major bank
Dr. Nicolas Eschenbaum has also been promoted to Senior Economist. He focuses on competition economics and digital markets. Nicolas received his PhD in industrial economics from the University of St. Gallen and conducted postdoctoral research on the competitive impact of artificial intelligence, among other topics.
We congratulate all four and wish them much success and joy in their further work for Swiss Economics.
Michael Funk was asked about the consquences of the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) by SRF's daily podcast "Newsplus".
The EU is working to improve the current regulatory framework for digital products. The introduction of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) is intended to create a uniform set of rules valid throughout the EU.
Michael Funk was asked by SRF about the consequences of the extensive package for Switzerland.
To the podcast (in German): https://www.srf.ch/audio/news-plus/eine-neue-aera-fuer-internet-giganten?id=12166241
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Nicolas Eschenbaum as a new team member of Swiss Economics. He will strengthen our competences in competition economics and regulation.
Nicolas Eschenbaum is an experienced economist focusing on competition economics and economics of digitization.
He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Finance from the University of St. Gallen with a thesis in industrial organization with a focus on digital markets. Prior to joining Swiss Economics, Nicolas worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of St. Gallen, where he continues to conduct research and teach. Currently, his research focuses on the intersection of game theory and artificial intelligence.
We are pleased to announce that Matteo Mattmann has been appointed Managing Economist as of January 1.
We welcome Matteo Mattmann among the shareholders of Swiss Economics. As a member of the Management Board, he will develop our activities in health and behavioural economics. We wish him every success in his new position and look forward to thee continuing collaboration.
Since January 2021, Swiss Economics is a carbon neutral company. Swiss Economics minimizes greenhouse gas emissions and offsets emissions that cannot be avoided.
The exact principles with which we try to contribute to the achievement of Switzerland's climate goals can be found here.
For the year 2021, our employees have decided to offset by means of a reforestation project in Nicaragua. The offset is certified by myclimate.
The modernisation of Swiss merger control is the core element of the partial revision of the Cartel Act (KG). With its 2017 study about the SIEC test, Swiss Economics made an important contribution to the revision.
The partial revision of the KG envisages adapting the Swiss test for merger control to international practice. The fundamental difference between the market dominance test applied in Switzerland so far and the newly envisaged SIEC test lies in the level of the intervention hurdle. Under the SIEC test, mergers can be prohibited or subject to appropriate conditions if they lead to a "significant" impediment to competition. In contrast, under the current standard of review, this is only possible if a merger "completely" eliminates effective competition. In addition, the planned revision also aims to strengthen private damages actions and provides for several procedural changes as well as a clarification with regard to inadmissible agreements.
The consultation period lasts until 11 March 2022. It can be assumed that the new provisions will not enter into force before 2023/24.
Malou and Valpuri had the opportunity to spend the "Future Day" at Swiss Economics.
Highlights of their day in our office were conducting interviews and editing them into a video, behavioural economics experiments with a chocolate reward and eating pizza in the park. The thoughts of the two primary school students of their fathers' work are in the video below.
Ann-Kathrin Crede participated in the SRF programme "Club" on the topic of National Immunisation Week and contributed with her behavioural economics expertise to the question of how to incentivize people to vaccinate themselves.
Quelle: srf.ch
Swiss Economics/cryptecon continue to support the CV Labs Incubation Program for start-ups using the Blockchain technology.
Recently, Juan Beccuti joined CV Labs as a mentor for the start-ups' incubation program. Together with Matthias Hafner (who joined CV Labs in 2019), he shares his expertise in platform and token economics. They present and discuss with the program's participants the main characteristics, considerations, and decisions to consider when designing token-based ecosystems.
Presentation of the interim report in the project to hedge terror and pandemic risks at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin.
Swiss Economics, presented together with Christian Hott (from Economic Advice) the first results in the project on hedging terror and pandemic risks at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin.
Lilia is a quantitative economist strengthening our competencies in analyzing panel and time-series data. Lilia is proficient in English and German with mother tongue Russian.
Dr. Lilia Ruslanova is a quantiative economist focusing on empirical methods, econometrics and DCF modelling. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Zurich. During her work as a doctoral student as well as research associate at the University of Zurich, she accumulated years of proficient experience in processing and analyzing data using various quantitative methods and statistical tools. The main fields of her research interests are International Macroeconomics, International Trade, Financial Regulation, Financial and Real Estate Markets.
Juan is a microeconomist and industrial engineer with a focus on market design. He will support Swiss Economics in platform and crypto economics.
Juan is an experienced economist focusing on platform economics, contract theory, and auctions. Amongst others, he will support our team in the analysis of incentives in crypto markets and blockchain protocols. Juan's mother tongue is Spanish, extending our reach into the Hispanic region.
Juan holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid with a dissertation about mechanism design. He also has a degree in industrial engineering. Prior to joining Swiss Economics full-time, Juan supported Swiss Economics as a Senior Fellow and worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Bern.
Presentation on postal strategies in a digital age.
Christian Jaag presented a paper on "Postal Strategies in a Digital age" at the 4th Conference on the Regulation of Infrastructures of the Florence School of Regulation.
Multiple papers presented in Athens.
Swiss Economics contributed three presentations and papers to the 23rd Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics:
- Commercial and regulatory challenges for postal e-services in Switzerland
- Cryptocurrencies: New Opportunities for Postal Financial Services
- Postal strategies in a digital age
All papers are available in our Working Paper Series.
A contribution of Swiss Economics team members has been published in the journal for Competition and Regulation in Network Industries.
Abstract: Rail passenger transport services with integrated regular interval timetables (IRIT) offer passengers a regular interval timetable for services on the railway network. IRIT have the potential to increase the quality and attractiveness of railway passenger services in comparison to other transport modes. This paper summarizes the advantages and challenges of the implementation of IRIT for railway passenger services, presents a quantitative model which simulates passenger utility in an IRIT railway system compared to other forms of timetables, and derives the main requirements for the successful introduction of IRIT. The comparison of the regulatory framework, the role of IRIT and the development of passenger railway services in CH, the NL and the UK, shows that in those countries where either IRIT has been introduced (CH) or the high frequency of trains between cities provides for a system comparable to IRIT (NL), railway services play a more important role in the modal split. The successful introduction of IRIT requires a long-run implementation schedule which identifies the necessary investment in the railway infrastructure and points out the financial resources available to make those investments. Further, IRIT requires a high level of punctuality of railway passenger services, coordination between railway companies when designing the timetable and a priority rule for passenger railway services within IRIT when there are capacity restrictions on the railway network.
A study for Bundesamt für Energie (BFE).
The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) published a report of Ecofys and Swiss Economics on future energy markets and the role of power network operators.
A collaboration with the University of Zurich.
Article on the experiences with the electricity market opening in the EU.
In a recent article on the experiences with the electricity market in the EU, we conclude that the member states have not yet worked out a silver bullet in the organization of the regulatory conditions.
Two new publications on the postal market in Switzerland and in the United States.
Swiss Economics welcomes Dr. Michael Funk as a new staff member!
Dr. Michael Funk is a project leader for Swiss Economics with a focus on competition policy and regulatory economics. After his studies in history and economics at the University of Fribourg, he obtained his Doctorate in the areas of political economics and financial sciences. He subsequently worked as an economist for the competition commission.
Presentation at the International Postal and e-Communications Conference on the Swiss regulatory framework for the postal sector in light of current challenges.
At the International Postal and e-Communications Conference, Christian Jaag gave a presentation on the Swiss regulatory framework for the postal sector in light of current challenges.
Dr. Martin Lutzenberger appointed Director Berlin Office.
Martin Lutzenberger is our new Director of Office Berlin. Focusing on competition economics, economic policy, transportation and energy, Martin will develop our activities in Germany.
After his studies in economics at the University of Freiburg i.Br. he received a doctoral degree at the University of Zurich. From 2010 to 2014, he was a project manager and lecturer at the University of Lucerne. Besides, he was a lecturer at the University of Zurich and an external expert in Swiss Economics.
Recent conference contributions are available in our working paper series.
Swiss Economics has presented recent research papers at the 22th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics:
- USO cost allocation rules and welfare
- Market Regulations and USO in the Revised Swiss Postal Act
- Estimating the Financial Impact of Discontinuing Saturday Delivery
The works are available in our Working Paper Series.
We accept payments and offer to pay salaries in Bitcoin.
As of now, we accept Bitcoin as payment for our consulting services. We also offer our employees the option to receive their salary (or a part of it) in Bitcoin.
A report for the United States Postal Regulatory Commission.
The U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) published today a report of Swiss Economics on the Impact of the discontinuance of Saturday delivery for letters and flats on the U.S. Postal Service.
Presentation of the research paper on «The Effect of Payment Reversibility on E-commerce and Postal Quality».
Christian Jaag presented the research paper «The Effect of Payment Reversibility on E-commerce and Postal Quality» at the 8th Bi-Annual Postal Economics Conference of the Toulouse School of Economics. The irreversibility of payments in virtual currencies shifts the risk of e-commerce from merchants to consumers. Under certain conditions, this strengthens online retailers in competition with brick-and-mortar stores as well as incentives for postal quality.
A report for Bundesnetzagentur.
BNetzA published the report of Swiss Economics on benchmarking the German energy distribution system operators.
New publications on assessing the burden of universal service providers and on calculating the net costs of home delivery obligations.
Two new publications of Swiss Economics team members have been published in the book «The Role of the Postal and Delivery Sector in a Digital Age».
To the book
To the working paper «USO Burden»
To the working paper «USO Delivery»
Contribution to the webinar on “Virtual currencies: Exploring a Potential Role for Postal Operators».
The webinar included inputs from the USPS IOG Global Team and the UPU