Long-Serving Member of ZEW Scientific Advisory Council Gebhard Kirchgässner Dies

Professor emeritus Gebhard Kirchgässner, a member of the Scientific Advisory Council at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) for many years and professor emeritus at the University of St. Gallen, died on 1 April 2017 at the age of 68 following a prolonged illness. With his passing ZEW has lost an outstanding, highly active member of the Scientific Advisory Council.

Gebhard Kirchgässner was professor emeritus at the Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research (SIAW) at the University of St. Gallen. Kirchgässner was a member of ZEW's Scientific Advisory Council from November 1999 until his retirement at the end of 2016. "As a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for over 17 years, Gebhard Kirchgässner, through his hard work and economic expertise, contributed greatly to making ZEW one of the leading economic research institutes in Europe today. He was particularly active in the development of the Research Department "Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management". We are greatly indebted to him," says Thomas Kohl, Director of Business and Administration at ZEW.

Gebhard Kirchgässner's particular areas of research included public choice theory and applied econometrics as well as the methodological basis for economic and social science and energy and environmental economics. Born in Konstanz, he gained a doctorate in economics before qualifying as a professor at both the University of Konstanz and ETH Zurich. From April 1992 onwards, he was a tenured professor for economics and econometrics at the University of St. Gallen and, as of July 1992, director of the SIAW.