Christoph M. Schmidt (1962) studied economics at the University of Mannheim, Germany, where he graduated as Diplom-Volkswirt in 1987, at Princeton University, where he was awarded a Princeton University Fellowship, 1987–1990, and the Alfred P. Sloan Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, 1990–1991, earning his M.A. in 1989 and his Ph.D. in 1991, and at the University of Munich, where he was a awarded a fellowship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) 1992–1995 and received the degree of Dr. rer. pol. habil. in 1995.

His research interests include applied econometrics, in particular in the fields of labor and population, health, innovation, energy, and macroeconomics; he has published articles in journals such as The Review of Economics and Statistics and the Journal of Public Economics and served as the editor of the Journal of Population Economics (1996–2022), the German Economic Review (2009–2013), and the Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik as its leading editor 2023–2024. In 2016 he received the Gustav Stolper Award of the Verein für Sozialpolitik and in 2019 he was awarded a honorary doctorate by the Leibniz University Hannover.

From 1995 to 2002 he taught econometrics and labor economics as a Full Professor at the University of Heidelberg. Since 2002, he has been President of RWI — Leibniz Institute for Economic Research and Professor of Economic Policy and Applied Econometrics at Ruhr University Bochum. From 2009 to 2020 he was member of the German Council of Economic Experts (chairman from 2013 to 2020). Since 2024 he has been member of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI).

In addition, he was and is member in various boards and councils: from 2019 to 2022 of the Franco-German Council of Economic Experts (co-chairman from 2020 to 2022); from 2011 to 2013 of the Enquete Commission "Growth, Prosperity, Quality of Life" of the German Bundestag; from 2020 to 2021 of the "Corona-Expertenrat" (Corona Council of Experts) of the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia; since 2011 of acatech – Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften (since 2014 of the Executive Board and vice president since 2020); since 2020 of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina; since 2015 of the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature and since 2018 of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts.