Since its founding in 2007, the CSS Institute has served as the independent research arm of the CSS Group. With the aim of advancing the Swiss healthcare system based on empirical evidence, the CSS Institute makes a significant contribution to CSS's commitment to sustainability. The CSS Institute's success is measured by the scientific quality of its publications and their impact on health policy and public discourse.
Research and Teaching as a Core Mission
At the core of our work lies the creation, discussion, and publication of scientific research in applied microeconomics. This focus on academic publications makes the CSS Institute a unique entity in the Swiss healthcare sector. Papers from the CSS Institute have been published in renowned peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of the European Economic Association and the Journal of Health Economics. Additionally, publications by CSS Institute staff have received multiple accolades, including the Science Award from the German Society for Health Economics.
While the Swiss healthcare system generates a vast amount of data, the infrastructure and access needed to leverage this information for research purposes are often lacking. Drawing on our own research experience, the CSS Institute also advises external researchers on their projects and provides them with access to suitable individual-level data. Each year, we support approximately six external research projects by providing data free of charge, with priority given to early-career researchers. For particularly ambitious doctoral students, we offer the opportunity to join our team as Research Affiliates during their dissertation and beyond, helping them further realize the potential of their budding research careers.
In addition to our research, the CSS Institute's staff contribute their health economics expertise to public discussions and teach courses at various Swiss universities.
Independence and a Focus on Causal Inference
The CSS Institute operates with complete research freedom in the selection of its topics. Our independence is secured by the quality of our publications in top-tier economics journals, allowing us to conduct research that is free from immediate corporate or political pressures and focused on generating insights with long-term relevance. The CSS Institute does not produce analyses for internal CSS group purposes, and all research findings are made publicly available without prior approval. As such, the positions of the CSS Institute do not necessarily align with those of the CSS Group.
The CSS Institute is committed to the highest standards of scientific rigor, in line with the "credibility revolution" in applied economics that has gained prominence since the 1990s. This approach emphasizes the use of methods that can distinguish correlation from causation. We firmly believe that only causally-grounded analyses can provide a reliable foundation for evidence-based health policy. For this reason, we focus on questions that can be answered using "natural experiments" — real-world situations that mimic a randomized controlled trial — to draw causal conclusions. We uphold this standard in all collaborations and when providing data for external research projects to ensure our work provides a scientifically sound basis for decision-making in health policy.