Prof. Dr Manuel Grieder

Dean Programme direction of the Master in Economics, Business and Data Analytics Associate Professor

Manuel Grieder is an Extraordinary Professor at UniDistance Suisse in the Faculty of Business and Economics. He received his PhD from the University of Lausanne (HEC). Before joining UniDistance Suisse, he was a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, a visiting scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a tenured lecturer at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). He also teaches at HEC Lausanne.

Detailed CV

News

Economics

New Partnership with the University of Valencia strengthens Doctoral Training UniDistance Suisse signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU) with the LINEEX Lab at the University of Valencia (Spain) in May 2026. This new partnership gives doctoral candidates from the Faculty of Economics and Management access to one of Europe’s most advanced research infrastructures for experimental economics.

Economics

Diligentia Foundation Funds Research Project at FernUni Schweiz on Administrative Barriers in the Tax System Dr Krishna Srinivasan, Prof. Manuel Grieder and Prof. Michael Kurschilgen from the Faculty of Economics at FernUni Schweiz have successfully secured research funding from the Diligentia Foundation. The foundation is supporting their project “Understanding Administrative Burden: A Field Experiment on the Hassle Costs of Tax Filing in Germany”. The project began in November 2025 and will run until October 2027.

Economics

“UniDistance Suisse is an attractive institution in the field of high-level scientific research” The Matterhorn Symposium took place from 18 to 20 September 2025 on the UniDistance Suisse campus in Brig. This second edition aimed to consolidate the university’s reputation as a leading centre of research in behavioural and experimental economics.

Economics

1st Matterhorn Symposium on Behavior, Institutions, and Cooperation UniDistance Suisse proudly hosted the 1st Matterhorn Symposium on Behavior, Institutions, and Cooperation from October 19 to 21, 2023. 50 researchers from Switzerland, Europe, and beyond gathered in Brig to dive into the latest findings in behavioral and experimental economics.

Virtuelle Wirtschaftsgrafiken erheben sich aus einem Tablet und eine Person hantiert mit diesen Statistiken.

Economics

Master of Science in Economics, Business and Data Analytics The new English-language Master of Science in Economics, Business and Data Analytics will be introduced in the autumn semester of 2023. The Faculty of Economics will now offer a complete study programme.

Research focus

My research is situated within behavioral economics and focuses on organizational economics and environmental and public policy. I study decision making in organizations, markets, and policy contexts, with a focus on outcomes related to efficiency, distribution, and environmental or social sustainability. Using primarily laboratory and field experiments, complemented where appropriate by surveys and field data, my work investigates mechanisms that foster cooperation, reduce negative externalities and unethical behavior, and lower behavioral frictions that hinder socially desirable actions.

Research projects

Cooperation and Transitions under Uncertainty

Approved amount: 385360 CHF

Funding scheme: FNS - Project funding

Grieder Manuel // Scherrer Beat // Celia Chui // Herz Holger // Christian Zehnder

Status: Ongoing

Start: 01.06.2025

End: 31.05.2029

Economics

Cooperation and Transitions under Uncertainty

Grieder Manuel // Scherrer Beat // Celia Chui // Herz Holger // Christian Zehnder

Approved amount:385360 CHF

Funding scheme: FNS - Project funding

Status: Ongoing

Start: 01.06.2025

End: 31.05.2029

Economics

Understanding Administrative Burden: A Field Experiment on the Hassle Costs of Tax Filing in Germany

Approved amount: 33248 CHF

Funding scheme: -

Grieder Manuel // Kurschilgen Michael // HANSEN Emanuel

Start: 01.01.2025

Economics

Understanding Administrative Burden: A Field Experiment on the Hassle Costs of Tax Filing in Germany

Grieder Manuel // Kurschilgen Michael // // HANSEN Emanuel

Approved amount:33248 CHF

Funding scheme: -

Start: 01.01.2025

Economics

Clarity in relational contracts

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Grieder Manuel // Herz Holger // Christian Zehnder // GIBBONS Robert S.

Start: 01.01.2021

Economics

Clarity in relational contracts

Grieder Manuel // Herz Holger // Christian Zehnder // GIBBONS Robert S.

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Start: 01.01.2021

Economics

Fostering the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources in SMEs: Does Nudging Work?

Approved amount: 586004 CHF

Funding scheme: -

SCHMITZ Jan // Grieder Manuel // JAEGER Patrick // KAMMERER Daniel // SAUTIER Sibylle // WIRZ-TöNDURY Christian

Status: Completed

Start: 01.10.2017

End: 31.08.2022

Economics

Fostering the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources in SMEs: Does Nudging Work?

SCHMITZ Jan // Grieder Manuel // JAEGER Patrick // KAMMERER Daniel // SAUTIER Sibylle // WIRZ-TöNDURY Christian

Approved amount:586004 CHF

Funding scheme: -

Status: Completed

Start: 01.10.2017

End: 31.08.2022

Economics

Research groups

Behavioural, Organisational and Environmental Economics

Faculty of Business and Economics

Investigating the analytical robustness of the social and behavioural sciences

2026-04 | Nature

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09844-9

Balazs Aczel
Barnabas Szaszi
Harry T. Clelland
Marton Kovacs
Felix Holzmeister
Don van Ravenzwaaij
Hannah Schulz-Kümpel
Sabine Hoffmann
Gustav Nilsonne
Livia Kosa
Zoltan A. Torma
Yousuf Abdelfatah
Christopher L. Aberson
Oguz A. Acar
Ensar Acem
Matus Adamkovic
Timofey Adamovich
Krisna Adiasto
Love Ahnström
Atakan M. Akil
Adil S. Al-Busaidi
Ali H. Al-Hoorie
Casper J. Albers
Peter J. Allen
Taym Alsalti
Micah Altman
Shilaan Alzahawi
Ettore Ambrosini
Saule Anafinova
Rahul Anand
Martin Angerer
Ariadna Angulo-Brunet
Alberto Antonietti
Jozsef Arato
Andreu Arenas
Marco M. Aviña
Flavio Azevedo
Marko Bachl
Bence Bago
Štěpán Bahník
Bradley J. Baker
Elza Balayan
Cassandra L. Baldwin
Benjamin Banai
Kasia Banas
František Bartoš
Ernest Baskin
Jojanneke A. Bastiaansen
Nadège Bault
Christopher W. Bauman
Quintin H. Beazer
Manuel Grieder

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Net Effects of Moral Licensing

2026-01 | SSRN Electronic Journal

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3920355

Manuel Grieder
Jan Schmitz
Renate Schubert

working-paper

Use and Design of Peer Evaluations for Bonus Allocations

2025-01 | Journal of Accounting Research

DOI: 10.1111/1475-679X.12628

Manuel Grieder
Karl Schuhmacher

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Non-price Product Differentiation in Charitable Giving – Evidence from two Randomized Field Experiments

2025-01

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4849150

Jan Schmitz
Manuel Grieder

working-paper

The Hidden Benefits of CSR: Corporate Philanthropy Begets Giving of Employees

2025-01 | Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103225

Manuel Grieder
Deborah Kistler
Jan Schmitz

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Strategic Competition and Self-Confidence

2024-01 | Management Science

DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2023.4688

Stefanie Brilon
Simona Grassi
Manuel Grieder
Jonathan Schulz

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

How Sludge Impairs the Effectiveness of Policy Programs: A Field Experiment with SMEs

2024-01 | Behavioural Public Policy

DOI: 10.1017/bpp.2024.44

Manuel Grieder
Deborah Kistler
Jan Schmitz

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Building an Equilibrium: Rules vs. Principles in Relational Contracts

2023-11 | Organization Science

DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2021.1503

Robert S. Gibbons
Manuel Grieder
Holger Herz
Christian Zehnder

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Looking beyond the hype: Conditions affecting the promise of behaviour change apps as social innovations for low-carbon transitions

2023-06 | Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions

DOI: 10.1016/j.eist.2023.100702

D. Wemyss
F. Cellina
M. Grieder
F. Schlüter

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Not Only for the Money: Nudging SMEs to Promote Environmental Sustainability

2023-01 | SSRN Electronic Journal

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4351587

Manuel Grieder
Deborah Kistler
Felix Schlüter
Jan Schmitz

working-paper

Environmental Decision Making in Small Companies: A Behavioral Economics Perspective

2021-01 | Sustainability and Environmental Decision Making

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-9287-4_13

Manuel Grieder
Deborah Kistler
Jan Schmitz

Book chapter

The Behavioral Effects of Carbon Taxes – Experimental Evidence

2021-01 | SSRN Electronic Journal

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3628516

Manuel Grieder
Rebekka Bärenbold
Jan Schmitz
Renate Schubert

working-paper

The Effects of Investigative Sanctioning Systems on Wrongdoing, Reporting, and Helping: A Multiparty Perspective

2020-09 | Organization Science

DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2019.1340

Celia Chui
Manuel Grieder

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Nudging the poor and the rich – A field study on the distributional effects of green electricity defaults

2020-02 | Energy Economics

DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2019.104616

Claus Ghesla
Manuel Grieder
Renate Schubert

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Pro-environmental incentives and loss aversion: A field experiment on electricity saving behavior

2020-02 | Energy Policy

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.111131

Claus Ghesla
Manuel Grieder
Jan Schmitz
Marcel Stadelmann

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

How Choice Complexity in Liberalized Markets Hurts the Demand for Green Electricity

2020-01 | SSRN Electronic Journal

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3628373

Rebekka Bärenbold
Manuel Grieder
Renate Schubert

working-paper

How group identification distorts beliefs

2019-08 | Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.05.027

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Nudge for Good? Choice Defaults and Spillover Effects

2019-02 | Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00178

Claus Ghesla
Manuel Grieder
Jan Schmitz

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Competitive pricing reduces wasteful counterproductive behaviors

2017-12 | Journal of Public Economics

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2017.08.007

Björn Bartling
Manuel Grieder
Christian Zehnder

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Teaching

M004-D	Einführung in die Volkswirtschaftslehre Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics
M004-F	Introduction à l'économie Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics
M04	Organisational Economics and Management Master of Science in Economics, Business and Data Analytics Organisational Economics and Management Master of Science in Economics, Business and Data Analytics Organisational Economics and Management Master of Science in Economics, Business and Data Analytics