Michael Freiberger
Research Scholar
Economic Frontiers Research Group
Biography
Michael Freiberger joined the IIASA Economic Frontiers Program in 2021 to work on the modeling of economic problems related to disruptive change, COVID-19, and health. He is currently working on the PVAR-GLOBIOM project and acts as the co-principal investigator of the Strategic Initiative project BLOOM. Both projects revolve around the modeling of farmers’ land-use decisions. In addition, he develops the models 2SOCS and MORIBE with thematic, theoretical, and numerical contributions.
Freiberger obtained his PhD in applied mathematics in Economics and Statistics at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) in 2022, with his dissertation focusing on the optimal preventive and adaptive strategies with respect to risk in health and environmental economics. His general research interests include: (i) dynamic macro-economic modeling, (ii) optimal control systems (with age-structure or stochastic elements), (iii) environmental economics, (iv) health economics, and (v) numerical methods for optimization problems.
During his studies Freiberger spent time at the Vienna Doctoral Program on Water Resource Systems in 2017, where he analyzed the economic aspects of socio-hydrological models that describe the interaction between population and the water system. In 2018, he started working at the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, a collaborative center of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna Institute of Demography), IIASA, and the University of Vienna. Until 2021, he contributed to the project, Life-cycle behavior in the face of large shocks to health.
Last update: 02 JUL 2025
Publications
Freiberger, M., Kuhn, M., & Wrzaczek, S. (2026). Integrating large health shocks into life-cycle models - Modelling impacts of a cancer diagnosis. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control e105367. 10.1016/j.jedc.2026.105367. (In Press)
Martin, J. , Wong, C., Stefaniak, E. , & Freiberger, M. (2026). BLOOM: Biodiversity and Land-use Objectives for Optimal Management. IIASA , Laxenburg, Austria.
Rivić, S., Freiberger, M., Cencic, O., Scharff, C., Prskawetz, A., & Rechberger, H. (2025). Evaluierung von Maßnahmen zur Förderung des Kunststoffrecyclings mittels eines wirtschaftsmathematischen Modells (Evaluation of measures to promote plastics recycling using an economic mathematical model). Österreichische Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaft 78 21-34. 10.1007/s00506-025-01184-2.
Freiberger, M., Kuhn, M., Fürnkranz-Prskawetz, A., Sanchez-Romero, M. , & Wrzaczek, S. (2025). Optimization in Age-Structured Dynamic Economic Models. In: The Unaffordable Price of Static Decision-making Models. Eds. El Ouardighi, F. & Feichtinger, G., pp. 35-62 Cham, Switzerland: Springer. ISBN 978-3-031-88637-9 10.1007/978-3-031-88638-6_4.