Gerd Muehlheusser studied Economics at the University of Frankfurt, where he received a degree as Diplom-Volkswirt in 1998. From 1998 to 2002 he was a member of the Bonn Graduate School of Economics and the European Doctoral Programme (EDP), of which he spent the second year at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He completed his PhD in 2002. From October 2002 until May 2003, he was a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

Since Sepetmber 2011 he is Professor of Economics at the University of Hamburg, Germany. He was previously Associate Professor at the University of Bielefeld, and Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics of the University of Bern, Switzerland. His research interests include industrial organization, organizational economics, law & economics, contracts and environmental economics.

He joined IZA as a Research Affiliate in November 2001 and became a Research Fellow in December 2003.