Josef Falkinger is Professor of Public Finance and Macroeconomics at the University of Zurich. Since 2008 he serves as Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Business Administration, and IT. He obtained his doctorate in Technical Mathematics from the University of Linz 1979 and his doctorate in Economics 1982 (also University of Linz). He was economist at the Chamber of Commerce, 1979–1982, and then at the University of Linz, as Assistant Professor and Lecturer 1982–1990. He has worked and taught at the University of Graz, as Professor of Public Economics from 1991–1994, and at the University of Regensburg, as Professor of Industrial Economics and Foreign Trade Theory, 1990 and 1995–2000.

His research interests include Macroeconomics – in particular Employment, Distribution and Growth – and Public Goods. His work has been published in the Journal of Public Economics, European Economic Review, Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Research in Labor Economics, American Economic Review, among other journals. His book on "A Theory of Employment in Firms. Macroeconomic Equilibrium and Internal Organization of Work" appeared 2002.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in May 2004.