Valentin Klotzbücher

Welcome to my personal website!

I’m a statistician in the Department of Clinical Research at University Basel/University Hospital Basel. Previously, I worked as a postdoc in Economics at the University of Freiburg, were I defended my Ph.D. in 2022.

I am always open to new connections and discussions – feel free to reach out, book a meeting, or connect with me on social media:

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II believe rigorous, quantitative analysis is essential for effective policy and real progress. In my new role, I use data analysis and statistics to support clinical research and evidence‑based medicine.

During my PhD, I analyzed high-frequency data on crisis helpline calls to track public health trends^1–3 and examined the political economy of terrorism.^4,5

In my free time, I contribute to meta-science initiatives aimed at improving research transparency and reproducibility. In particular, I was involved in large collaborative projects assessing the robustness of empirical results in social science,^6,7 and I support The Unjournal in commissioning independent evaluations of high-impact research.^8,9

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1.

Brülhart, M., Klotzbücher, V., Lalive, R. & Reich, S. K. Mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic as revealed by helpline calls. Nature 600, 121–126 (2021).

2.

Brülhart, M., Klotzbücher, V. & Lalive, R. Young people’s mental and social distress in times of international crisis: Evidence from helpline calls, 2019–2022. Scientific Reports 13, 11858 (2023).

3.

Armbruster, S. & Klotzbücher, V. Lost in lockdown? COVID-19, social distancing, and mental health in Germany. Covid Economics: Vetted and real-time papers 22, 117–153 (2020).

4.

Klotzbücher, V., Krieger, T. & Meierrieks, D. Class warfare: Political exclusion of the poor and the roots of social-revolutionary terrorism, 1860-1950. Defence and Peace Economics 32, 6681–697 (2021).

5.

Klotzbücher, V. & Schulze, G. Tourism. in The Cambridge Handbook on the Economics of Terrorism (eds. Basuchoudary, A. & Schulze, G. G.) 442–456 (Cambridge University Press, 2025).

6.

Nick Huntington-Klein, I. M., Claus Pörtner & The Many Economists Collaborative. The sources of researcher variation in economics. NBER Working Paper 33729, (2025).

7.

Brodeur, A. et al. Comparing human-only, AI-assisted, and AI-led teams on assessing research reproducibility in quantitative social science. Institute for Replication (I4R) Discussion Paper 195, (2025).

8.

Anonymous Evaluators (3), Reinstein, D. & Klotzbücher, V. Evaluation summary and metrics: "Selecting the most effective nudge: Evidence from a large-scale experiment on immunization". The Unjournal (2024).

9.

Anonymous Evaluators (2), Reinstein, D., Jintcharadze, D. & Klotzbücher, V. Evaluation summary and metrics: "The wellbeing cost-effectiveness of StrongMinds and Friendship Bench: Combining a systematic review and meta-analysis with charity-related data". The Unjournal (2025).