Dr. Isabel Z. Martínez is founder and head of the research section “Inequality and Public Economics” at the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich. Her research concentrates on income and wealth inequalities, and the different ways people respond to taxes, from labor supply adjustments to income shifting. Dr. Martínez’ work has a strong focus on economic policy, and she contributes regularly to popular media and is a sought after speaker. She has been listed among the top 10 of the most influential economists in Switzerland and is among the top 5% female economists in the global RePEc database, the largest collection of economic research. Her work has been published in leading academic journals, including the American Economic Review, The Review of Economics and Statistics, and the Journal of Urban Economics.

From 2017 until 2020, Dr. Martínez worked as economist for the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions SGB. Since 2018, she serves as an elected member of the Swiss Competition Commission. She completed her PhD at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, in 2016. She is of Swiss and Spanish origin and lives in Zurich.