The Granular Origins of Inflation (2025), with Santiago Alvarez-Blaser, Raphael Auer, and Andrei Levchenko, reject and resubmit, Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Macroeconomics · Monetary Economics · International Macroeconomics
Image: generated by S. Lein using OpenAI Codex.
Welcome to my website
I am Full Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Basel. My research interests are in monetary economics and international macroeconomics. My recent research focuses on the role of firm heterogeneity for inflation dynamics, the effect of exchange-rate changes on prices and expenditures, the role of currency of invoicing for allocations, and the role of inflation expectations for price and wage setting of firms.
Before joining the University of Basel in November 2014, I worked as a Senior Economist in the Economic Analysis Unit at the Swiss National Bank. I received my doctoral degree from the University of Zurich in 2009.
I am a research fellow at the CEPR Monetary Economics and Fluctuations Programme and the International Macroeconomics and Finance Programme, a research fellow at KOF ETH Zurich, and at CESifo Research Network.
I am furthermore a member of the advisory committee of the Inflation: Drivers and Dynamics Program of CEBRA, member of the board of directors and of the investment committee of the pension fund BLPK, and a board member of the Speiser-Bär Stiftung.
CV
Full CVCurrent Employment and Affiliations
Professor of Macroeconomics
University of Basel, 2014-present.
Research Network Fellow
CESifo Macro, Money, and International Finance Network, 2020-present.
Research Fellow
CEPR MEF and IFM, 2019-present.
Research Fellow
KOF ETH Zurich, August 2014-present.
Education
PhD (Dr. oec.) in Economics
University of Zurich, 2009.
PhD Programme Gerzensee
Macroeconomics and Econometrics. Year of graduation: 2007.
M.Sc. in Economics
University of Konstanz, 2005.
Exchange Year
University of Sussex, 2002-2003.
Previous Positions and Visits
Visiting Scholar, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Jan-Jun 2026.
Visiting Scholar, KOF ETH Zurich, Jun-Jul 2026.
Visiting Scholar, Clausen Center, University of California, Berkeley, 2022.
Co-Editor, Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, 2021-2022.
Senior Economist, Economic Analysis, Swiss National Bank, August 2008-October 2014.
Research and Teaching Assistant, Chair of Applied Macroeconomics Prof. J.-E. Sturm, Department of Management, Technology and Economics, ETH Zurich, October 2005-July 2008.
Trainee, European Central Bank, DG Economics, June 2005-September 2005.
Research
Working Papers
Inflation Expectation Pass-Through into Prices and Wages: Evidence from an RCT Survey (2026), with Klaus Abberger, Anne-Kathrin Funk, Michael Lamla, and Stefanie Siegrist, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 19595, revise and resubmit, American Economic Review.
Firm net worth, external finance premia and monitoring cost: Estimates based on firm-level data (2026), with Gregor Bäurle and Elizabeth Steiner, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 17508, resubmitted to Review of Finance.
Exchange-Rate Pass-Through and Currency Choice in Production Networks (2026), with Alessandro Ferrari, Andreas Freitag, Eric Kammerlander, and Frank Pisch, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 21144.
Work in Progress
Spousal Labor Supply Elasticities: Evidence from Cross-Border Workers (2024), with Kevin Kloiber, Andreas Peichl, Kurt Schmidheiny, and Peter Zorn.
Inequality, Markups, and the Phillips Curve (2026), with Rahel Braun and Florian Stich.
Inflation Expectations and Wage Setting: The Role of Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity (2026), with Klaus Abberger, Anne-Kathrin Funk, Michael Lamla, Stefanie Siegrist, and Chamuel Zbinden.
Selected and Recent Publications
Unequal Expenditure Switching: Evidence from Switzerland (2024), with Raphael Auer, Ariel Burstein, and Jonathan Vogel, Review of Economic Studies, 91(5), pp. 2572-2603.
Cross-border shopping: evidence and welfare implications for Switzerland (2024), with Ariel Burstein and Jonathan Vogel, Journal of International Economics, 152, Article 104015.
Endogenous Product Adjustment and Exchange Rate Pass-Through (2023), with Andreas Freitag, Journal of International Economics, 140, 103706.
Exchange Rates and Prices: Evidence from the 2015 Swiss Franc Appreciation (2021), with Raphael Auer and Ariel Burstein, American Economic Review, 111(2), pp. 652-686.
Sources of Bias in Inflation Rates and Implications for Inflation Dynamics (2021), with Rahel Braun, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 53(6), 1553-1572.
Price elasticities and demand-side real rigidities in micro data and in macro models (2020), with Günter W. Beck, Journal of Monetary Economics, 115(C), pp. 200-212.
Exports and Invoicing: Evidence from the 2015 Swiss Franc Appreciation (2019), with Raphael Auer, Ariel Burstein and Katharina Erhardt, American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 109, pp. 233-238.
The Role of Media for Consumers’ Inflation Expectation Formation (2014), with Michael Lamla, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 106, pp. 62-77. Working paper version.
Sticky Prices or Rational Inattention: What can we Learn from Sectoral Price Data? (2013), with Daniel Kaufmann, European Economic Review, 64(4), pp. 384-394.
Asymmetries in Price-Setting Behaviour: New Microeconometric Evidence from Switzerland (2012), with Bo E. Honoré and Daniel Kaufmann, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 44(4), pp. 211-236.
When do Firms Adjust Prices? Evidence from Micro Panel Data (2010), Journal of Monetary Economics, 57(6), pp. 696-715.
All publications: see CV.
Data
Tracking Inflation on a Daily Basis, with Santiago E. Alvarez, Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, volume 156, Article number 18 (2020). Download data.
Teaching
University of BaselI teach the following courses:
Macro Reading Group
Most recent program see here.
Conferences
Contact
Sarah M. Lein
Phone: +41 (0)61 207 33 07
Fax: +41 (0)61 207 08 98
Email: sarah.lein-at-unibas.ch
Office 5.34
Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät
Universität Basel
Peter Merian-Weg 6
CH-4002 Basel