Department of Economics @Universität Zürich🇨🇭

Delighted to announce that Marek Pycia, Professor of Organizational Economics in our department and Co-Director of the "Zurich Center for Market Design", was elected Fellow of The Econometric Society. 👏

🎉 Congratulations, Maike Renkert, on your successfully defended PhD Thesis! 🧠 📷 With her supervisors @christianruff.bsky.social and Karin Kucian.

In a second study, adolescents with dyscalculia perceived numerical magnitudes less precisely and had more difficulty holding them in memory. Both differences were reflected in distinct properties of the same brain region, the so called parietal cortex.

pukzh.chProf. Dr. Sofie Louise ValkProf. Dr. Sofie Valk leitet das neu geschaffene Institut für Translationale Psychiatrie über die Lebensspanne (ITP) an der PUK und ist ausserordentliche Professorin an der UZH. Ihre Forschung verbinde...

Maike will soon start as a postdoc at this new institute associated to the psychiatric university clinic, with @sofievalk.bsky.social: www.pukzh.ch/forschung/fo...

🎉 Congratulations, Maike Renkert, on your successfully defended PhD Thesis! 🧠 📷 With her supervisors @christianruff.bsky.social and Karin Kucian.

In her thesis, she combined computational models of behavior with brain imaging (fMRI) to find out which latent neurocognitive processes shape numerical decisions. In one study, acute stress made adults take more financial risks.

The models and brain data suggest that stress shifted their expectations about payoff sizes, while the precision with which they perceived the numbers stayed the same.

🎉 Congratulations, Maike Renkert, on your successfully defended PhD Thesis! 🧠 📷 With her supervisors @christianruff.bsky.social and Karin Kucian.

Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg

Processing numbers is crucial to navigate in today’s society, but people differ markedly in efficiency and attitude towards this. About 3–6% of people have developmental dyscalculia, a learning disorder that specifically affects numerical abilities.

Department of Economics @Universität Zürich🇨🇭 reposted

@gothenburg-econ.bsky.social

Doing Economics with AI: Where Are We Heading? Earlier this week, we welcomed Malmsten Visiting Professor @davidyd.bsky.social at @econ.uzh.ch for an engaging discussion on how AI is transforming economic research, its opportunities and challenges. Thanks to David and everyone who joined!

A massive congratulations to newly awarded Nobel Laureates Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford!

Nobel Prize@nobelprize.org

BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford “for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.” #NobelPrize

linkedin.comWhen Selfish-Serving Distortions SpreadSelfish and prosocial people alike distort the social impact of their actions, but only selfish-serving distortions seem to spread. You could have traveled by train instead of flying, but how much bet...

A study led by @mariusvollberg.bsky.social and Jörg Gross published @nathumbehav.nature.com, shows that selfish AND prosocial actors distort the social impact of their actions, with only the selfish version catching on: people who see it adopt it and act more selfishly themselves.

Learn more and read insights from Marius Vollberg: www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-s...

Join us for a special occasion marking the appointment of Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee as distinguished faculty members at the Department of Economics! 🕒 November 25 2026, 5:00-6:15 PM 🏛 UZH, Aula, KOL-G-201 👉 Register: lnkd.in/eTvY_m_X 🌐 Livestream: lnkd.in/eTvY_m_X

Created by the University of Zurich and the Lemann Foundation, the initiative brings together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to strengthen the use of evidence in public decision-making and help translate research into effective solutions.

❗Seating in the Aula is limited. Overflow rooms with a livestream will be available, and the lecture can also be followed online via livestream.

In their lecture "Science against poverty", they will share insights from their research and their plans for their work at the University of Zurich.

They will also introduce the newly launched Lemann Collaborative – A global initiative for excellence in public policy, which they will lead as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics.

CeDEx University of Nottingham

Awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty, they have transformed the way economists study development and evaluate policies aimed at improving people’s lives.

Department of Economics @Universität Zürich🇨🇭 reposted

@uoncedex.bsky.social

Tomorrow 7th October @jainr.bsky.social of @econ.uzh.ch will join us as our first CeDEx seminar speaker of the 2026-27 academic year. The talk will take place in @uoneconomics.bsky.social room A40 1-2pm. More about Ronak: ronak-jain.com More about our seminars: www.nottingham.ac.uk/cedex/semina...

🎉 Congratulations, Niccolò Cattadori, on your successfully defended PhD Thesis. Niccolò has joined joined the Economics, Statistics and Research Department of the Bank of Italy.

His thesis examines how education and research policies shape the behavior of individuals and institutions,

@mariusvollberg.bsky.social

studying the effects of full-time primary schooling on children’s learning and maternal labor supply and of competitive university funding on research performance and students’ enrollment choices.

Department of Economics @Universität Zürich🇨🇭 reposted

Marius Vollberg

Replying to @mariusvollberg.bsky.social

Link to open access paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... @zne-uzh.bsky.social @econ.uzh.ch @uzh-ch.bsky.social

nature.comSelfish and prosocial individuals both distort their actions’ impact, but selfish distortions can be more contagious - Nature Human BehaviourIn this study, Vollberg and Gross show that both selfish and prosocial individuals exaggerate the social benefits of their choices, with selfish-serving distortions proving to be socially contagious.

Department of Economics @Universität Zürich🇨🇭 reposted

Marius Vollberg

@mariusvollberg.bsky.social

Did you leave twitter? How much worse would it have been for everyone if you had stayed? New paper w/ Jörg Gross (out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com) shows that selfish *and* prosocial actors distort the social impact of their actions, with selfish-serving distortions showing greater contagion.

We are currently looking to fill several pre-doc positions for qualified applicants from low- and middle-income countries and/or with a refugee background. 👉 Learn more and apply : lnkd.in/eVr6tw_V

🎉 Congratulations, Manon Delvaux, on your successfully defended PhD Thesis. Manon has joined UniDistance Suisse as a postdoctoral researcher.

Congratulations, @anacostaramon.bsky.social, on receiving an SNSF Project Funding grant for the project “Divorce Expectations and Household Specialization,” with a total funding amount of CHF 637,000. @snsf.ch @jacobscenteruzh.bsky.social

Ana Costa-Ramon is an Assistant Professor of Economics of Child and Youth Development endowed by the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development.

nature.comAn agenda for real-world fairness research to inform policy and organizations - Nature Human BehaviourIn this Perspective, Fehr and Wu argue that applying fairness research to markets, organizations and public policy requires solving fundamental unresolved questions about how fairness concerns are act...

Congratulations @jvoth.bsky.social, UBS Foundation Professor of Economics, on receiving an SNSF Project grant. The project, "History LLM: Time Travel with AI" will begin in 2027 and run for five years, with an approved budget of CHF 946.00. @ubscenter.uzh.ch @snsf.ch

Department of Economics @Universität Zürich🇨🇭 reposted

Nature Human Behaviour

@nathumbehav.nature.com

21 Sept

Replying to @nathumbehav.nature.com

What should fairness research focus on next? In this concluding Perspective, Ernst Fehr and Keyu Wu propose a forward-looking research agenda and call for more real-world research to inform policy and practice. [9/10] @econ.uzh.ch #fairness www.nature.com/articles/s41...

13 Sept

For the first time, the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, which honors research that "first makes you laugh and then makes you think," was held in Zurich. The UZH study Proof by Underpants received the prize in the Soil Science category. The award was presented by Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee.

news.uzh.chAward-Winning Underpants

13 Sept

👉 Learn more about the awards: www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/... 📷 Petra Wolfensberger

10 Sept

Full house for our first highlight of the academic year, which has only just begun! 🤩 Our Class of 2023 is wrapping up their third-year research projects with a presentation & poster session. Thrilled by the breadth of the research projects and all the passionate students!

@niklasbuergi.bsky.social

10 Sept

What a privilege and honor it was to host the 2026 BREAD-CEPR Development Economics Annual Symposium! 😀 👉 To the program : cepr.org/events/bread... @cepr.org

Department of Economics @Universität Zürich🇨🇭 reposted

Niklas Buergi

9 Sept

Autism has long been linked to difficulties with Theory of Mind. But what exactly is driving these differences? And what happens in the brain? In our new preprint, we show that adaptive mentalization might be key. A 🧵 #CogSci #CogNeuro osf.io/preprints/ps...

Department of Economics @Universität Zürich🇨🇭 reposted

urpp-equality.bsky.social

@urpp-equality.bsky.social

27 Aug

Join us for the next URPP Lecture with economist @gabrielzucman.bsky.social. He will discuss global wealth inequality, billionaire taxation, and the case for a minimum tax on extreme wealth. 📅 5 October 2026 | 🕠 5:30 pm 📍 UZH, KOL-G-201 👉 Register: t.uzh.ch/1Xr

8 Sept

🎉 Congratulations, @arcalor.bsky.social, on your successfully defended PhD Thesis: "Essays in Trade and Environmental Economics" We wish you all the best in your new position as an Ecocomist Bank of Italy! 😀

8 Sept

His thesis explores why employers'power over wages gives French manufacturers a reason to offshore, how the EU's carbon border adjustment shifts air pollution back to Italy's most polluted regions, and whether Switzerland's weight-adjusted CO₂ car standard has pushed importers to favor heavier cars.

4 Sept

Welcome to the newest cohort of PhD students joining our Graduate School! We are excited to have you on board. Learn more about the program: 👉 www.econ.uzh.ch/en/study/phd...

🎉 Congratulations, Saurabh! A proud moment for you and your supervisor, @ccruff.bsky.social. 😀

🎉 Congratulations, Saurabh Bedi, on your successfully defended PhD Thesis: "Behavioral Biases Across Perception and Decision-Making: The Role of Representational Constraints" We wish you all the best as a postdoc at the Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics 😀

In his thesis, he asks why people show systematic biases in very different domains: overweighting small probabilities in risky choices, misjudging visual orientations, or biases in multi-attribute choice. Across three studies combining behavioral experiments and computational modeling.

He shows that these biases can be traced to a common source: a noisy, resource-limited brain that must build and use internal representations of the world as efficiently as possible given these resource constraints to guide behavior.

blick.chWarum wir den Fall Vincenz liebenWarum fasziniert der Fall Pierin Vincenz so sehr? Geht es um Schaden oder die Fallhöhe eines Bankers? Was verrät unsere Empörung? Das erklärt Christian Ruff, Professor für Neuroökonomie an der Univers...

17 Aug

Warum beschäftigt uns der Fall Pierin Vincenz bis heute? Und was sagt unsere Empörung über uns selbst aus? Christian Ruff, Professor of Neuroeconomics and Decision Neuroscience erklärt im Podcast «Durchblick», warum dieser Fall so viel Empörung auslöst. www.blick.ch/life/wissen/...

14 Aug

Bernardo Silveira has recently joined our department as Professor of Applied Microeconomics. In this interview, he discusses his research areas, expertise, and the sources of inspiration for his new research questions. 👉 www.econ.uzh.ch/en/news/insi...

Department of Economics @Universität Zürich🇨🇭 reposted

Econometrica

@ecmaeditors.bsky.social

28 July

Random Priority—a popular no-transfer allocation mechanism—is efficient, fair, & simple to participate in. Is it the only mechanism with these properties? Marek Pycia @econ.uzh.ch and Peter Troyan, UVA Economics, answer this long-standing question in the positive. buff.ly/zlSjmC0