Artificial intelligence could become radically more powerful over the next decade, triggering an economic transformation that surpasses the Industrial Revolution. How labor markets, companies, and education systems should prepare for a technology whose speed and scope are difficult to gauge is one of the most pressing economic policy questions of our time.

This is precisely what more than 200 economists and scientists, including 16 Nobel laureates, are now warning about in an open letter: they are calling for urgent measures to ensure that AI complements human labor rather than replacing it. The NZZ reported extensively on the letter and its signatories. SRF 4 News aktuell also covered the topic, interviewing UBS Foundation Professor David Hémous, one of the letter's signatories. He stressed that policymakers first need to develop an awareness of the problem in order to plan measures for the labor market, education, and the direction of innovation.

In 2020, Garyn Tan was awarded an UBS Center Scholarship to pursue his PhD at the Zurich Graduate School of Economics. Now, he has successfully defended his PhD thesis on 'Essays in Labour and Health Economics'. Congratulations, Dr. Tan!

Garyn's thesis explores how disability insurance can alleviate labour market constraints for people with disabilities, how childhood antidepressant treatment affects outcomes in adulthood, and why the wages of newly hired workers fluctuate over the business cycle.

Garyn will start a postdoctoral position at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) in Bergen this September.

Ernst Fehr has been elected to the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts – one of Germany's highest honors for science and the arts, whose roughly 70 members include Nobel laureates Herta Müller and Svante Pääbo. Fehr is being honored for his groundbreaking research on how fairness, trust, and social norms shape human economic behavior. The formal induction ceremony will take place on May 30, 2027, at the Konzerthaus Berlin.

We are happy to announce that David Yanagizawa-Drott was appointed UBS Foundation Professor of Economics effective August 1, 2026. David joined the Department of Economics at the University of Zurich in 2016 and has been affiliated with the UBS Center ever since. His research interests include development economics and political economy, with a current focus on understanding the drivers of culture and norms in shaping labor markets for men and women, as well as the role of social media in shaping society. Another priority is the research concept of the Social Catalyst Lab where David and his team leverage AI to search for scalable solutions to pressing challenges in developing countries. David’s faculty affiliations include J-PAL, BREAD, EUDN, and CEPR. In 2025, he was recognized with the Yrjö Jahnsson Award for groundbreaking work in political economy and the media.