Dear reader,

What holds a well-functioning society together and what threatens to pull it apart? This edition explores that question from several angles: Ralph Ossa offers a clear-eyed assessment of a multilateral trading system under pressure.  And Professors Scheuer and Eden ask what genuine fairness requires – economically, politically, and mathematically.

Sincere regards,

Ernst Fehr, Director
Hans-Joachim Voth, Scientific Director

Global trade – resilience, erosion, and the role of middle powers

U.S. tariffs at their highest since the 1930s. Stalled negotiations. A dispute settlement system under pressure. The multilateral trading system looks like it's unraveling, but is it? In our new Public Paper, Ralph Ossa, former chief economist at WTO, offers a clear-eyed diagnosis: real strain, yes, but also real resilience. Most global trade still flows under multilateral rules, and the WTO framework continues to deliver economic and political value that is easy to take for granted. The paper maps where the system has fallen short, where it has held, and what a credible reform agenda looks like.

Rights, fairness, and pay gaps

Can normative economics move beyond its consequentialist blind spots? And what drives the stubbornly persistent gaps in women’s pay and labor force participation? Maya Eden and Andreas Mueller, both Affiliated Professors at the UBS Center, are taking on both questions with fresh Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) funding totaling over CHF 1.25 million – and will spend the next four years finding out. Eden’s work challenges the philosophical foundations of policy analysis. Mueller’s cross-country research asks which policies – from childcare subsidies to equal pay mandates – actually move the needle on gender equality.

Podium recap

“Our army is no longer a defense army”

With these words, Federal Councillor Martin Pfister cut to the heart of what many are reluctant to say out loud: Switzerland has quietly surrendered its defense capabilities over the decades of the peace dividend – and is barely aware of it. Around 800 visitors gathered at the “UBS Center Wirtschaftspodium” in Zurich for a discussion in which voices from business and politics explored what the new world disorder means for Switzerland’s security and its standing as a business location – and what needs to happen now.

Ernst Fehr joins National Academy of Sciences

Ernst Fehr, Director of the UBS Center, has been elected as an international member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences – one of the world’s most prestigious scientific honors. He joins a distinguished community that includes Nobel laureate Robert Shiller and former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. The election recognizes Fehr’s continued advancements in original research, especially in the field of behavioral economics.

Florian Scheuer appointed to Advisory Board of Ministry of Finance

UBS Foundation Professor Florian Scheuer has been appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Federal Ministry of Finance, one of Germany's most influential economic policy bodies. The board provides independent, evidence-based advice on fiscal and economic policy to the Ministry. The appointment reflects Scheuer’s standing as a leading voice in public economics at the international level.

Welcome Nava Ashraf and Leonardo Bursztyn

The UBS Center welcomes Prof. Leonardo Bursztyn (University of Chicago) and Prof. Nava Ashraf (London School of Economics) as new members of its Advisory Board. Leonardo Bursztyn studies how social environments shape economic decisions across areas such as education, labor markets, finance, consumption, and politics. Nava Ashraf’s research combines psychology and economics to study behavioral drivers of development, including intra-household decision-making, gender norms, and labor supply. With their appointments, the UBS Center further strengthens its Advisory Board with leading scholars whose research connects economic theory with pressing societal challenges.