Tobias Thomas (born April 30, 1975 in Duisburg) is a German economist and Director General of Statistics Austria. He is also Vice Chair of the Austrian Productivity Board (PROD), and professor of economics, in particular of Public Finance and Political Economy, at the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE) at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. According to the 2019 ranking of economists by Die Presse, F.A.Z., and the

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...

, Thomas is the 5th most influential economist in Austria. Since 2020, he has no longer been listed in accordance with the ranking’s regulations due to his position as Director General of Statistics Austria. Thomas is regularly present in national and international media, for example in ''BusinessDay'', '' Der Standard'', '' Die Presse'', '' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', '' Schweizer Monat'', '' Trend'' and '' Wirtschaftswoche''. In 2022, Thomas was quoted 1,601 times in Austrian media only (2021: 1,413 times).

Life

Thomas studied economics at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn and Technical University Berlin before earning his doctorate ''summa cum laude'' at Helmut-Schmidt-University Hamburg, where he later also gained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

. Thomas was a visiting scholar at, among others, Columbia University at the invitation of Nobel Laureate in Economics Joseph E. Stiglitz and Anya Schiffrin and at the Max-Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance in Munich at the invitation of Kai A. Konrad. From 2017 to June 2020, he was director of the economic research institute EcoAustria, based in Vienna. Since June 2020, Thomas is Director General of Statistics Austria.

Committees and functions

Thomas is Vice Chair of the Austrian Productivity Board (PROD), scientific expert at the Austrian Pension Commission which analyses the financial sustainability of the national pension system, and he serves as member of the Commission Future of Statistics (KomZS) for the strategic planning of the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). In addition, Thomas is Vice President of the Austrian Statistical Society (ÖSG), member of the Science Advisory Board of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH), member of the Committee on Economic Systems and Institutional Economics of the Verein für Socialpolitik (VfS), and Research Fellow at the Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) of the Central European University (CEU). Internationally, Thomas represents Austria in the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC), the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC), the United Nations Conference of European Statisticians (UNCES), and the OECD Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy (CSSP). In 2021, he was also elected by the ESS member states to the Partnership Group (ESS-PG), which provides strategic advice to the work of the ESSC. In addition, Thomas is member of the UNCES task force on data stewardship.

Scientific work

In his research at the interface between economics and psychology, Thomas analyses decision processes and behaviour in economic and political contexts. His research interest includes public finance, the economics of political reforms as well as the impact of the media on perception and behaviour. His research results on the impact of media coverage on the population's concerns about migration were published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (JEBO); the analysis of the impact of media coverage on voting intentions as well as his research on the political positioning of the US Newscasts ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX in the European Journal of Political Economy (EJPE); his research on the role of the media in democracies in the Constitutional Political Economy (CPE). Other research on policymakers' risk-taking in the context of reform has been published in the Review of Economics, on the economic consequences of reform reluctance in Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, on climate policy measures and energy forecasts for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in Zeitschrift für Energiewirtschaft, and on improving economic forecasts in the Journal of Forecasting. In addition, Thomas focusses in his applied research on the sustainability of public finances and social security systems as well as the competitiveness of economies. Other areas of focus include data science, data governance of complex data ecosystems, as well as building and improving research data infrastructure facilities.

Scientific publications (selection)

* Bernhardt, L., Dewenter, R. & Thomas, T. (2023), Measuring partisan media bias in US Newscasts from 2001-2012. ''European Journal of Political Economy'', online first: 20. Januar 2023. * Dewenter, R., Dulleck, U., & Thomas, T. (2020). Does the 4th estate deliver? The Political Coverage Index and its application to media capture. ''Constitutional Political Economy'', 31, 292-328. * Frondel, M., & Thomas, T. (2020), Dekarbonisierung bis zum Jahr 2050? Klimapolitische Maßnahmen und Energieprognosen für Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz. ''Zeitschrift für Energiewirtschaft, 44'', 195-221. * Benesch, C., Loretz, S., Stadelmann, D. & T. Thomas (2019), Media Coverage and Immigration Worries: Econometric Evidence. ''Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization'', 160, 52–67. * Dewenter, R., Linder, M. & T. Thomas (2019), Can media drive the electorate? The impact of media coverage on voting intentions. ''European Journal of Political Economy'', 58, 245–261. * Berlemann, M. & T. Thomas (2019), The Distance Bias in Natural Disaster Reporting – Empirical Evidence for the United States. ''Applied Economics Letters'', 16, 1026–1032. * Strohner, L., Berger, J. & Thomas T. (2018), Ökonomische Folgen der Reformzurückhaltung bei der Beendigung des Solidaritätszuschlags. ''Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik'', 19, 313-330 * Thomas, T., Heß, M. & G. G. Wagner (2017), Reluctant to Reform? A Note on Risk Loving of Politicians and Bureaucrats. ''Review of Economics'', 68, 167–179. * Ulbricht, D., Kholodilin, K. & T. Thomas (2017), Do media data help to predict German industrial production? ''Journal of Forecasting'', 36, 483–496. * Beckmann, K., Dewenter, R. & T. Thomas (2017), Can news draw blood? The impact of media coverage on the number and severity of terror attacks. ''Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy'', 23, 1–16. * Dewenter, R., Heimeshoff U. & T. Thomas (2016), Media Coverage and Car Manufacturers’ Sales. ''Economics Bulletin'', 36, 976–982. * Thomas, T. (2013): „What price makes a good a status good? Results from a mating game“, in: ''European Journal of Law and Economics'', 36, 35–55. * Göbel, M., Schneider, A., & Thomas, T. (2010). Consumption behavior and the aspiration for conformity and consistency. ''Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 3''(2), 83–94.

External links

Statistik Austria - Prof. Dr. Tobias Thomas

Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf - Prof. Dr. Tobias Thomas

Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH) Science Advisory Board - Prof. Dr. Tobias Thomas

Central European University (CEU) - Prof. Dr. Tobias Thomas

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Tobias German economists Political economists Public economists 1975 births University of Bonn alumni Technical University of Berlin alumni Helmut Schmidt University alumni Academic staff of Helmut Schmidt University Living people