Research Fellow Political Economics

Thomas Brändle is Deputy Head of the Economic and Monetary Policy Division and Head of Economic and Fiscal Policy Analysis at the Swiss Federal Finance Administration within the Federal Department of Finance. He is a lecturer at the University of Lausanne and the University of Neuchâtel. From 2019 to 2021, he worked as a Senior Policy Analyst at the OECD in Paris. In 2016, he was seconded as a national expert to the European Commission, DG-ECFIN in Brussels. Before joining the Federal Finance Administration in 2013, he was a visiting researcher at the University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona and at Bocconi University, Milano. In 2012, he completed his Ph.D. at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Basel, where he worked from 2007 to 2012 and where he is an affiliated research fellow. He has published articles on fiscal policy, health policy, climate policy and political economics in academic and economic policy journals. He studied economics at the Universities of Freiburg im Breisgau, Lugano and Basel

Publications

2024 Report on the long-term sustainability of public finances in Switzerland: ageing and net-zero. Edited by the Swiss Federal Department of Finance, Berne, forthcoming (with Martin Baur, Carsten Colombier & Benjamin Lerch)

Anforderungen an Standortmassnahmen im Rahmen der OECD Mindestbesteuerung, Archiv für Schweizerisches Abgaberecht, forthcoming. (with Samuel Schmassmann, Andrea Schläpfer & Philippe Sulger)

Do fiscal rules matter? A survey on recent evidence, Federal Finance Administration, Working Paper No. 26, Berne, 2023. (with Marc Elsener) (also published as WWZ Working Paper 2023/07, University of Basel) [link] [link]

Do the COVID-19 Crisis, Ageing and Climate Change Put Swiss Fiscal Sustainability at Risk? Intereconomics, 57/1, 2022, pp. 48–55. (with Pierre-Alain Bruchez, Carsten Colombier, Martin Baur & Lukas Hohl) [link]

Healthcare Expenditure Projections Up To 2050: Ageing and the COVID-19 Crisis. Swiss Federal Finance Administration Working Paper No. 25, 2022, Berne. (with Carsten Colombier) [link]

2021 Report on the Long-term Sustainability of Public Finances in Switzerland: COVID-19 Crisis, Demographics and Climate Change. Swiss Federal Department of Finance, Berne. (with Martin Baur, Pierre-Alain Bruchez, Carsten Colombier & Lukas Hohl) [link]

Balance Sheet-based Policies in COVID-19 Fiscal Packages: How To Improve Transparency and Risk Analysis? OECD Journal on Budgeting, 21/2, 2021, pp. 2-67. (with Delphine Moretti and Alexandre Leroy) [link]

Budgeting in Local Self-government Units in Poland. In: Better Governance, Planning and Services in Local Self Governments in Poland, OECD Public Governance Review, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2021, Chapter 5, pp. 183-206. [link]

Integrating Climate into Macroeconomic Modelling: Drawing from the Danish Experience, Note prepared for the OECD Paris Collaborative on Green Budgeting and the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action. March 2021, OECD, Paris. [link]

Budgetary Targets as Cost-containment Measure in the Swiss Healthcare System? Lessons from abroad, Health Policy, 2020, 124(6), pp. 605-614. (with C. Colombier) [link]

Ökonomische Einsichten und Empfehlungen für eine gute Finanzpolitik der Regierung. In: Ritz, A., Haldemann, T. and F. Sager (eds.). Blackbox Exekutive, Regierungslehre in der Schweiz, NZZ Libro Verlag, 2019, pp. 307-340. (with Theo Haldemann and Martin Baur) ) [link]

Voters and Representatives: How Should Representatives Be Selected? In: Congleton, R.D., B. Grofman and S. Voigt (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Public Choice, Volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019, pp. 24-43. (with Alois Stutzer) [link]

Healthcare Expenditures and Fiscal Sustainability: Evidence from Switzerland. Public Sector Economics, 42(3), 2018, pp. 279-301. (with Carsten Colombier) [link]

Budgetary Targets for Growth in Healthcare Expenditure: Selected Experiences and Findings for Switzerland. Federal Finance Administration Working Paper No. 22, 2018, Berne. (with Carsten Colombier, Martin Baur and Serge Gaillard) [link]

Independent Fiscal Councils: Neglected Siblings of Independent Central Banks? A European Union Perspective. Journal of Common Market Studies,2018, 56(2), pp. 267–283. (with Martin Larch). [link]

Healthcare Expenditure Projections Up To 2045, Swiss Federal Finance Administration Working Paper No. 21, 2017, Berne. (with Carsten Colombier) [link]

What Drives Public Health Care Expenditure Growth? Evidence from Swiss Cantons, 1970-2012. Health Policy, 120(9), 2016, pp. 1051–1060. (with Carsten Colombier). [link]

Selection of Public Servants into Politics. Journal of Comparative Economics, 44(3), 2016, pp. 696–719. (with Alois Stutzer). [link]

Do Institutions Affect Citizens' Selection into Politics? Journal of Economic Surveys 30(2), 2016, pp. 205-227. [link]

Does Remuneration Affect the Discipline and the Selection of Politicians? Evidence from Pay Harmonization in the European Parliament. Public Choice, 162(1-2), 2015 pp. 1-24. [link]

Political Selection of Public Servants and Parliamentary Oversight. Economics of Governance 14, 2013, pp. 45-76. (with Alois Stutzer). [link]

Determinants of Employment in the Ministerial Bureaucracy. WWZ Discussion Paper 01/12, University of Basel.

A Dilemma in the Separation of Powers: Public Servants as Legislators. In: A. Peters and L. Handschin (eds.). Conflict of Interest in Governance - An Interdisciplinary Outlook on the Global, Public, Corporate and Financial Sphere. Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp. 177-198. (with Alois Stutzer).

Public Servants in Parliament: Theory and Evidence on Its Determinants in Germany. Public Choice 145, 2010, pp. 223-252. (with Alois Stutzer). [link]

Further contributions to the economic policy debate

Fiskalregeln wirken. Die Volkswirtschaft, 13. November 2023. (with Marc Elsener and Martin Baur) [link]

Corona-Krise und Alterung belasten Gesundheitswesen unterschiedlich. Die Volkswirtschaft, 28. Oktober 2022. (mit Carsten Colombier) [link]

Alterung und Klimawandel belasten öffentliche Finanzen. Die Volkswirtschaft, 95 (1-2), pp. 54-56, 2022. (with Carsten Colombier & Martin Baur) [link]

Was zeichnet eine gute Finanzpolitik der Regierung aus? DeFacto, September 2019. (with Theo Haldemann and Martin Baur) [link]

Budgetäre Ziele in der Grundversicherung stärken die Kostenverantwortung. Die Volkswirtschaft, 91(8-9), 2018, pp.41-44. (with C. Colombier and M. Baur) [link]

Zunehmender Druck der Alterung via Gesundheitsausgaben auf die öffentlichen Finanzen, Swissfuture, 3/2018, pp.18-22. (with Carsten Colombier) [link]

Wer wird Politiker? Der Einfluss von Bezahlung und der Unvereinbarkeit von Amt und Mandat. Ökonomenstimme, KOF ETH Zurich, June 2017. (with Alois Stutzer) [link]

Was beeinflusst das Wachstum der kantonalen Gesundheitsausgaben. CHSS - Soziale Sicherheit, 01/2017, pp. 30-34. (with Carsten Colombier) [link]

Nicht nur die Alterung führt zu Zusatzlasten im Gesundheitswesen. Die Volkswirtschaft, 90(3), 2017, pp. 11-15. (with Carsten Colombier) [link]

Institutionelle Vorkehrungen helfen gegen wachsende Staatsverschuldung? Die Volkswirtschaft, 89(12), 2016, pp. 22-26. (with Pierre-Alain Bruchez). [link]

Zunehmende Alterung trifft Kantone am stärksten. Die Volkswirtschaft, 89(5), 2016, pp. 43-45. (with Carsten Colombier and Arabela Philipona) [link]

Wie beeinflusst die Entschädigung die Disziplin und die Selektion von Politikern? Die Volkswirtschaft, 88(5) May 2015, pp. 23-27.[link]

Spielt es eine Rolle, wer Politik macht? WWZ News 33, 2010, pp. 23-27. (with Alois Stutzer).