News
We are delighted to welcome Nina Schnyder and Stephan Minger to the team and congratulate Andreas Stritt on his promotion.
Andreas Stritt has been with Swiss Economics since 2022 and has been promoted to Economist. He focuses on energy, transport and competition economics. He earned a Master's degree in economics from the University of Berne, with a focus on data analysis and industrial economics.
Nina Schnyder also joins the team as an Economist. She holds a Master's degree in Environmental Economics from the London School of Economics. After graduating, she worked as an energy and environmental consultant in London and Berlin and will continue to specialize in these areas at Swiss Economics.
Stephan Minger joins Swiss Economics as an Analyst. He holds a Master's degree in Economics from the University of St. Gallen with a focus on financial economics and data analysis. During his studies, he worked as a reasearch assistant in the areas of financial market econometrics, derivatives and monetary policy.
We are confident that their skills and experience will be a valuable addition to our team.
We warmly welcome Winand Emons to our team as a consultant!
We are pleased to welcome Prof. emer. Dr. Winand Emons as a counsel to the Swiss Economics team. He strengthens our team especially in the area of competition economics. Winand Emons has not only distinguished himself in research and teaching at the University of Bern, but has also held important positions as a member of the Competition Commission, Dean and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences and a member of the Research Commission of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). His work in his main research focus in the areas of law and economics, microeconomics and competition economics led to numerous publications in renowned journals.
We warmly welcome Winand Emons and wish him success and pleasure in his new activities for Swiss Economics.
Swiss Economics has supported the AZ Regionalfernsehen AG and CH Media in their applications for broadcasting licenses for the years 2025 to 2034.
AZ Regionalfernsehen AG successfully applied with Tele M1 and TeleBärn for the broadcasting licenses in the Aargau/Solothurn and Bern regions. An expert opinion from Swiss Economics was submitted as part of the application. Swiss Economics prepared a second report for CH Media too, that led to a similar success. CH Media has acquired with Radio Central the local radio broadcasting license for the Central-Switzerland region.
Our reports examined in particular the influence of the award of the license on the diversity of offerings and opinions. The focus was on the conflict of objectives between the strict structural independence of broadcasters and their possibility of offering a diverse program. The positive externality of media content for democratic decision-making, which justifies state support for public service, only exists if viewers are truly interested in the broadcasted content. Very small, but structurally independent media providers are usually unable to build up the necessary reach with their limited financial resources, e.g. due to the lack of economies of scale. In addition, there are strong incentives to provide a diverse program, particularly in concentrated media markets.
Swiss Economics concludes in its reports that the synergy benefits and the strengthening of regional media in journalistic competition outweigh any concerns regarding structural independence.
Click here for the project entry on our website.
We welcome Maida Sabotic and Elena Zarkovic to our team and congratulate Seline Spillman and Leah Meyer de Stadelhofen on their promotions.
Seline Spillmann joins our team as Economist. Her focus is on data analysis in various topics as well as labor economics. Among other things, she is active in the fields of competition economics and health. In her master she studied economics at the University of Zurich with a focus on econometrics. During her studies, she worked as a Research Assistant in the area of globalization and labor markets at the University of Zurich.
Elena Zarković joins us as an analyst. She studied economics and business administration in her bachelor's at the University of St. Gallen, where she also earned an additional certificate in Data Science Fundamentals. During her studies, she worked as a research assistant at the Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research at the University of St. Gallen.
Maida Sabotic joins the Swiss Economics team as an Economist. Her areas of expertise include economic policy and data analysis. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics, Politics and History from the University of Zurich as well as Master's degree in Economics and Data Science. During her studies she worked at the Institute of Economics at the University of Zurich. After her Master's degree, she completed an internship in economic development cooperation at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.
Leah Meyer de Stadelhofen joins our team as an Economist, focusing on behavioral economics, industrial economics and data analysis. Her areas of expertise include regulation, environmental economics, and energy. In addition, Leah joins our Romandie department and is thus involved in the development of Swiss Economics in French-speaking Switzerland and France. She holds a Master in Economics from the University of Lausanne with a specialization in Behavior, Economics, and Evolution. During her studies, she worked as a Teaching Assistant in Microeconomics.
We congratulate all of them and wish them much success and joy in their new activities for Swiss Economics.
We warmly congratulate our staff member, Nicolals Greber, on receiving the ACCL Award for his Master's thesis! The award ceremony took place on 19 September at the Atelier de la Concurrence in Bern.
In his Master's thesis, Nicolas Greber examined the behaviour of self-learning pricing algorithms. Recent studies have shown that certain AI pricing algorithms are able to learn tacit collusion in oligopoly models. Nicolas picked up there with his master's thesis, analysing the behaviour of two more recent AI pricing algorithms. The first algorithm, known as the "deep deterministic policy gradient", failed to achieve constant convergence. In contrast, the second algorithm, the "multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient", achieved consistent results in a Nash equilibrium. These findings were confirmed by various robustness tests.
We wish Nicolas all the best and success in his PhD at the University of Zürich and in his work for Swiss Economics.
Last weekend we celebrated our 15th anniversary with a visit to the power station, dinner and an overnight stay at the Grimsel Hospiz!
Last weekend we spent an unforgettable time together at the Grimsel Hospiz, surrounded by the breathtaking scenery of the Grimsel region.
Highlights included exciting excursions to the hydroelectric power plant and the impressive Aare Gorge, and a delicious 5-course meal. These experiences deepen our appreciation for 15 years of successful projects.
As passionate economists, we are proud of our continuous growth. This journey would not have been possible without our dedicated team and inspiring projects.
Here's to the next exciting chapters full of success and exciting projects!
In a recent presentation at the Blockchance conference in Hamburg, Matthias Hafner explored the factors that influence the stability of stablecoins and discussed how they relate to recent developments in CBDCs and the tokenization of real-world assets.
Drawing from recent literature, including his own research conducted at the University of Zurich, Matthias Hafner emphasized that the construction and management of collateral are key determinants of stablecoin stability. While externally derived collateral value may compromise the independence of the stablecoin ecosystem, collateral value derived from within the ecosystem carries the risk of death spirals, as observed with TerraUSD. Additionally, centralized management may offer cost-effectiveness but exposes the stablecoin ecosystem to the risk of bank runs, as exemplified by the recent USDC depeg incident.
Further, Matthias Hafner argued that the advent of CBDCs and tokenized real-world assets could potentially put pressure on the demand for stablecoins in the future. This could, for example, result in the need to introduce solutions for stablecoins that offer interest payments based on their underlying collateral.
More detailed information can be found here:
Blockchance presentation slides
Matthias Hafner's research on stablecoins
We are happy to announce that Matthias Hafner has been promoted to Principal. Nicolas Oderbolz has been supporting our team as an Economist since the beginning of this year.
Matthias Hafner supports our team with immediate effect as a Principal and remains the Director of the Center for Cryptoeconomics.
His areas of expertise include financial services, blockchains and cryptoassets.
With his expertise and many years of experience, he will continue to make an indispensable contribution to the further development of these areas. Matthias regularly advises large companies and public authorities and supports start-ups in the implementation of their projects. In addition, he is writing his dissertation and teaches at the University of Zurich on various crypto topics. Before joining Swiss Economics in 2016, he worked at the Competition Commission.
Nicolas Oderbolz has joined Swiss Economics as an Economist with a focus on regulation, health and blockchain. He is involved in various projects in the fields of energy, data analytics and cryptoassets.
Nicolas completed his Bachelor and Master studies in Economics at the University of Zurich, with a focus on empirical methods and data analysis. During his studies, he worked as a research assistant at the University of Zurich in the field of labour and development economics. He has been a valuable part of the Swiss Economics team since the summer of 2022.
We congratulate both of them and wish them much success and joy in their new activities for Swiss Economics.
The article "Blockchain und ihre Anwendungen" by Matthias Hafner and Dr. Christian Jaag was recently published in the quarterly issue of the zsis) Centre for Swiss and International Tax Law.
In their contribution, they explain how blockchain works through illustrative examples and use cases. In addition, they explain the legal classification of crypto-assets and show the limits of the technology.
The publication can be accessed here.
Matthias Hafner presented his research on stablecoins at the Wolfram ChainScience conference in Boston, USA.
The article, "The Four Types of Stablecoins: A Comparative Analysis" (jointly with Marco Henriques Pereira, Prof. Dr. Helmut Dietl, and Juan Beccuti) discusses the conditions under which stablecoins may lose their value. Among others, they explore the crash of Terra and the de- and re-peg of the USDC stablecoin.
Link to the slides: The Four Types of Stablecoins (swiss-economics.ch)
In less than a week, the Shanghai-update is going to be realized on the Ethereum Beacon Chain. This long-anticipated event in the blockchain community motivated us to discuss and compare staking designs of different blockchains in a series of blog post.
In our second blog post of this series, we analyze and compare the staking designs of different blockchains from an economic perspective. To make the information more accessible and compact, we also created a table which can serve as a quick reference.
You can find the whole publication and our new Company Profile on Medium.
Don't hesitate to follow us there to stay updated on our upcoming publications!
Swiss Economics congratulates Lilia Habibulina, Nicolas Eschenbaum and Romain de Luze on their promotions. We thank them for their support to date and wish them continued success.
Lilia Habibulina has been promoted to Senior Economist. She specialises in applying quantitative methods to regulatory questions and has extensive experience in estimating the cost of capital and in econometric modelling. Prior to joining Swiss Economics, she was a PhD candidate and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich.
Nicolas Eschenbaum has been promoted to Managing Economist and has joined Swiss Economics’ executive board. He is responsible for the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI). His work focuses on competition policy as well as market regulation and market design—particularly in the context of algorithms and AI—across various sectors, including digital markets and energy. He is currently leading, among other assignments, a project for DG Comp.
Romain de Luze has also been promoted to Managing Economist and has joined Swiss Economics’ executive board. He additionally leads the Lausanne office and is responsible for business development in French-speaking Switzerland. His expertise focuses on the analysis of regulatory issues, financial modelling and strategic advisory work, particularly in the energy and transport sectors.
We would like to thank all participants and our colleague Michael Altorfer for his valuable contributions to the panel on the future of the Swiss financial market at the NextGen Impact Forum.
The forum brings together committed voices from academia, practice and politics to shape the change towards a more sustainable financial world.
Congratulations on the successful launch of the NextGen Impact Forum at the University of St. Gallen (HSG)!
You can find us at Rue du Liseron 7, 1006 Lausanne.
Since the beginning of April, you can find us at Rue du Liseron 7, in addition to our Zurich office.
This opening marks an important new milestone for us: getting closer to our partners in French-speaking Switzerland and strengthening our presence in the region. Being on site means having more opportunities to collaborate, to connect more frequently, and to support projects with even greater proximity and responsiveness.
We look forward to welcoming you there, to continuing to grow our collaborations… and to starting new ones!
Since the beginning of the year, Nina Schnyder has joined our team full-time as a Senior Economist and Michael Altorfer as an Economist. We would like to thank them for their support so far and wish them exciting projects for the future.
Michael Altorfer is joining Swiss Economics full-time after completing his studies. His focus is on energy economics, valuations and data analysis. In his Master's, he completed a double degree in economics and international management at the University of St. Gallen and the Stockholm School of Economics, with a focus on data science and climate economics.
Nina Schnyder has been with Swiss Economics since 2024 and has now been promoted to Senior Economist. Nina focuses on the areas of valuation, dispute resolution and regulatory economics, and she regularly advises and supports clients in arbitration and litigation cases and will continue working in these areas as Senior Economist. In addition, she is a CFA Level I candidate and is preparing to take her exam in February 2025.
Swiss Economics conducted a study on the federal government's ownership strategy regarding Swisscom on behalf of DETEC and the FDF.
Our report concludes that, at present, there is no sufficiently strong public interest in a federal majority stake in Swisscom—neither to ensure the provision of basic telecommunications services nor to expand a nationwide high-speed broadband network. These services are primarily provided in a competitive market or can be adequately regulated by the federal government through legislation. However, given the reassessment of the security implications of telecommunications and information infrastructure, there may be a public interest in federal government ownership of a stake in Swisscom. Since legislation and commercial contracts can only partially regulate the provision of the necessary services, having ultimate control through ownership in this sensitive sector may be advisable.
However, government activity in competitive markets generally leads to distortions of competition. Even a strict separation of the ownership role from supervisory and regulatory functions cannot fully resolve the fundamental conflict of objectives between the economic interest in effective competition and the fiscal interest in dividend income. The balance between the public interest in a majority stake and competitive neutrality is ultimately a political question that this report cannot definitively answer. With regard to the formulation of strategic objectives, we recommend explicitly mentioning the public interest in Swisscom’s security policy responsibilities.
In addition to a majority stake and a complete sale, we also examined alternative courses of action, such as the establishment of a state-owned network company or the retention of a blocking minority. However, no additional benefits were identified.
The evaluation was conducted in collaboration with Martina Arioli and Lukas Bruhin of Arioli Law.
Michael Funk, Urs Trinkner, Lukas Bruhin, Martina Arioli, Nicolas Oderbolz, Nina Schnyder
To the Federal Council’s press release
We are delighted to welcome Dr Marco Salvi and Bastian Seiler as new members of staff. They will strengthen the Swiss Economics team in the area of economic policy and energy.
Bastian Seiler joins the Swiss Economics team as Senior Economist. He studied political science, economics and economic and social history at the University of Zurich. After his studies, he gained over 10 years of professional experience in different roles across the energy and infrastructure industry. At Swiss Economics, he will primarily work as a consultant and project manager in the areas of energy, finance and insurance, as well as regulation and risk management.
Dr. Marco Salvi joins Swiss Economics as Managing Economist. He holds a PhD from EPFL and brings over 10 years of experience in economic policy analysis. As a Senior Fellow at Avenir Suisse, he was responsible for labor market, social, and housing policy and played a key role in shaping the think tank’s strategic direction. Previously, he served as a project leader focusing on tax and fiscal policy. Before joining Avenir Suisse in 2011, he led three specialist teams at Zürcher Kantonalbank, where he developed innovative risk models for the real estate and mortgage markets. He is an Adjunct Fellow at Avenir Suisse and lectures on Real Estate Finance at the University of Zurich.
At Swiss Economics, he will be responsible for topics such as real estate economics, regional economics, and labor market issues.
Swiss Economics examined the role of temporary work from an economic perspective and assessed the potential impact of current regulatory proposals on the labor market for swissstaffing.
Several proposals for additional regulation of temporary agency work are currently under discussion. Our study, conducted on behalf of swissstaffing, concludes that these proposals do not bring any added value. The analysis, which was carried out using the regulatory impact assessment (RIA) method, shows that temporary work plays an important role in the labour market. It reduces market frictions and enables efficient and rapid placement between companies and employees.
Temporary agency work thus provides flexibility, but at the same time is in tension with employment security. Without temporary agency work, an increase in less regulated forms of work such as temporary employment, self-employment or on-demand work could be expected. Unemployment and undeclared work could also increase. Moreover, temporary agency workers in Switzerland already benefit from comprehensive protection through a collective labour agreement.
Swiss Economics supported UBS in its merger with CS in the FINMA control procedure.
On June 19, 2024, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA announced that it had concluded the antitrust review procedure for the merger between UBS and Credit Suisse without imposing any conditions or obligations. Following an extensive review, it concluded that the merger would not eliminate effective competition in any market segment.
Swiss Economics supported UBS in these proceedings with two economic expert opinions and the compilation of market data. The first report contained a comprehensive analysis of the competitive situation on all relevant banking markets. The second report provided a more in-depth analysis of individual segments that were the focus of the Competition Commission's statement to FINMA. The Swiss Economics team, consisting of Dr. Michael Funk, Dr. Samuel Rutz, Dr. Eva Zuberbühler and Seline Spillmann, worked closely with the antitrust team of Bär & Karrer, represented by Dr. Mani Reinert and Dr. Christine Schweikard.
Supporting low-income households directly or providing subsidized housing? Swiss Economics analyses the affordability of housing costs and housing policy instruments to relieve the burden on households in Switzerland.
Our latest study, which we carried out on behalf of the Verband Immobilien Schweiz (VIS), shows which households may have financial problems with housing costs. The salient features of these households are:
single - settled in a moderately populated region - tend to consume a lot of living space per person - low-income.
In order to relieve the burden on households, the state has two social policy instruments at its disposal: supply-side and demand-side subsidies. The former subsidises housing directly, while the latter supports households with housing allowances. Supply-side subsidy is mainly realised through the housing stock of cities and municipalities, while demand-side subsidy support is primarily provided via social welfare and AHV/IV supplementary benefits. Our calculations show that the public sector currently spends roughly the same amount per supported household on subsidised housing as on housing allowances: on average around CHF 5,000 per year. However, housing allowances are more targeted, as it almost exclusively benefits households in need.
Based on the demand-side subsidy systems currently in place in Switzerland, we estimate the costs of extending these systems to all overburdened households. This shows that in an expanded system of demand-side support, around 50 per cent more low-income households could be supported with the funds currently used for supply-side support than is currently the case.