Hans Gersbach

About Hans Gersbach

Hans Gersbach is a professor at ETH Zurich and codirector of the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. He is leading the project Trustworthy AI Voting Assistants and Supported Democracy.

Gersbach studied at the University of Basel in Switzerland, where he received degrees in mathematics, actuarial science and economics, before completing his doctorate in economics in 1990 and his habilitation in 1995. After early positions in the private sector, at the University of Basel, the McKinsey Global Institute and the University of California, Los Angeles, he was professor at the University of Heidelberg in Germany from 1995 to 2006. He joined ETH Zurich in 2006 and was visiting professor at Princeton University in the US in 2012.

Research Focus

Gersbach’s research explores how economic and political institutions can be designed to improve the long-term well-being of societies. His work spans monetary systems and banking regulation, innovation and growth, basic research policy, climate cooperation, and democratic decision-making. A central theme is the development of new institutional rules that help societies address complex long-term challenges.

Awards and Recognition

Gersbach’s work has received broad international recognition. He is a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and a member and former chairman of the scientific advisory board of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. He received the City of Basel Science Award in 2017 and the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Award for Outstanding Publication in 2022. He has been repeatedly ranked among the leading German-speaking economists and was appointed to the Swiss expert group on bank stability after the Credit Suisse crisis.