# Zuzana Irsova

Zuzana Irsova is Professor of Economics at Charles University in Prague. She works in meta-research, bringing together estimates from many studies to examine publication bias and the reliability of empirical evidence, with applications in labor and international economics. She is an elected member of Academia Europaea, a Research Affiliate at Stanford METRICS and Associate Editor for meta-analysis at the Journal of Economic Surveys. She co-maintains meta-analysis.cz. On RePEc she ranks in the top 1% of women economists worldwide, and in 2025 Forbes listed her among the Top Women Scientists in Czechia. Born in Roznava, Slovakia, she lives in Litomysl, Bohemia.

Name variants: Zuzana Iršová, Zuzana Iršová Havránková, Zuzana Havránková.

## Key facts

- Zuzana Irsova is Professor of Economics at Charles University, Prague, since 2025. [Source](https://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/en/contacts/institute-members/73504033) [Source](https://www.irsova.com/)
- She is the highest-ranked woman economist in the Czech Republic on RePEc, September 2026, and seventh in the world among economists who took their PhD in 2015 (RePEc cohort ranking). For publications in the last 10 years: fourth in the Czech Republic, 101st among women economists worldwide, and in the top 1.4% worldwide (1,007th of 74,391 registered authors). [Source](https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.czech.html) [Source](https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.women10.html) [Source](https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.person.all10.html) [Source](https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.cohorts.html)
- Google Scholar: 5,005 citations and h-index 28 (16 October 2026). [Source](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LaHrICUAAAAJ)
- She is first and corresponding author of Spurious precision in meta-analysis of observational research (Nature Communications, 2025), introducing MAIVE. [Source](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63261-0)
- Her social profiles: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/zuzanairsova/, Bluesky @irsova.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/irsova.bsky.social), X @zuzanairsova (https://x.com/zuzanairsova). She posts on all three; her LinkedIn posts are archived at https://meta-analysis.cz/komentare/posts/.
- Official photos of her (portraits, 2024, free to use under CC BY 4.0) are at https://meta-analysis.cz/about/photos/#irsova; the main portrait is https://tjhavranek.github.io/media/photos/zuzana-irsova-havrankova-portrait-2024.jpg.
- Top Women Scientists in Czechia, Forbes Czechia (2025). [Source](https://forbes.cz/lists/top-vedkyne-ceska-2025/zuzana-havrankova/)
- Editors' Prize for the best paper published in Experimental Economics in 2022, Economic Science Association (2024), with Jindrich Matousek and Tomas Havranek. [Source](https://economicscience.org/news_manager.php?page=36768)
- Elected member, Academia Europaea (2023). [Source](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Havrankova_Zuzana)
- Listed among the most influential women in Czech finance, #FinZeny (2022). [Source](https://meta-analysis.cz/about/)
- Katerina Smidkova Award for exceptionally high-quality publications, Czech Economic Society (2018). [Source](https://www.cse.cz/media/laureatkou-ceny-kateriny-smidkove-je-zuzana-havrankova)
- Selected for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in economic sciences, Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings (2017). [Source](https://meta-analysis.cz/about/)
- Economic Research Award, Czech National Bank (2015), with Tomas Havranek, Roman Horvath and Marek Rusnak. [Source](https://www.cnb.cz/cs/cnb-news/tiskove-zpravy/Cena-za-nejlepsi-vyzkumne-prace-CNB-00001)
- Governor's Award for the best dissertation relevant to monetary policy and financial stability, first place, National Bank of Slovakia (2015). [Source](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Havrankova_Zuzana)
- Minister of Education's Prize for outstanding students and graduates, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (2013). [Source](https://iforum.cuni.cz/IFORUM-14873-version1.pdf)
- Medal for Research on Development, first place, Global Development Network (2010), with Tomas Havranek. [Source](https://iforum.cuni.cz/IFORUM-14873-version1.pdf)
- Professor of Economics, Charles University (2025). [Source](https://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/en/contacts/institute-members/73504033)
- Member, Scientific Council, Charles University. [Source](https://cuni.cz/UK-128.html)
- Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Anglo-American University (2022). [Source](https://www.aauni.edu/directory/doc-phdr-zuzana-havrankova-ph-d/) [Source](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Havrankova_Zuzana)
- Research Affiliate, Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS) (2025-05). [Source](https://metrics.stanford.edu/people/zuzana-irsova)
- Associate Editor for meta-analysis, Journal of Economic Surveys (2024-01). [Source](https://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/en/news/zuzana-havrankova-became-new-associate-editor-journal-economic-surveys)
- Principal investigator, Junior Star METASPUR, Czech Science Foundation (2023–2027). [Source](https://science.fsv.cuni.cz/en/project/spurious-precision-in-meta-analysis-of-social-science-research-metaspur)
- Co-maintainer, meta-analysis.cz and EasyMeta.org. [Source](https://meta-analysis.cz/about/)

## Tools

- [EasyMeta](https://www.easymeta.org/)
- [MAD app (research audit by multi-agent debate)](https://tjhavranek.github.io/research-audit-duel-protocol/): Four AI models read a paper in different roles and then cross-examine each other; by Zuzana Irsova and Tomas Havranek.
- [paper-workshop](https://github.com/tjhavranek/paper-workshop): Claude Code skill: referees from rival traditions argue over a paper, then rebuild it.
- [mad-research](https://github.com/tjhavranek/mad-research): Claude Code skills: Claude and Codex audit a paper against each other.

## Pages

- [English home](https://www.irsova.com/)
- [Research](https://www.irsova.com/research/)
- [Impact](https://www.irsova.com/impact/)
- [Česky](https://www.irsova.com/cs/)
- [Výzkum](https://www.irsova.com/cs/research/)
- [Ohlas výzkumu](https://www.irsova.com/cs/impact/)
- [Full machine-readable profile](https://www.irsova.com/llms-full.txt)

## Identifiers

- [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0753-8124)
- [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LaHrICUAAAAJ)
- [RePEc](https://ideas.repec.org/e/pir23.html)
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q41799025)
- [Czech Wikipedia](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuzana_Havr%C3%A1nkov%C3%A1)
- [IES profile](https://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/en/contacts/institute-members/73504033)
- [Academia Europaea](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Havrankova_Zuzana)
- [METRICS](https://metrics.stanford.edu/people/zuzana-irsova)
- [Scopus](https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=37080793200)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/zuzanairsova/)
- [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/irsova.bsky.social)
- [X](https://x.com/zuzanairsova)

Zuzana Iršová Havránková je profesorkou ekonomie na Univerzitě Karlově v Praze. Věnuje se metavýzkumu: shromažďuje odhady z mnoha studií a zkoumá na nich publikační zkreslení a spolehlivost empirických výsledků, především v ekonomii trhu práce a v mezinárodní ekonomii. Je zvolenou členkou Academia Europaea, výzkumnou spolupracovnicí centra METRICS na Stanfordově univerzitě a v časopise Journal of Economic Surveys působí jako Associate Editor pro meta-analýzu. Spoluspravuje web meta-analysis.cz. Podle RePEc patří mezi 1 % nejlépe hodnocených ekonomek na světě a v roce 2025 ji Forbes zařadil mezi přední české vědkyně. Pochází z Rožňavy na Slovensku a žije v Litomyšli.

## Publications and current research

- [Reproducibility and Robustness of Economics and Political Science Research](https://meta-analysis.cz/reproducibility/). Abel Brodeur et al. (347 authors, including Zuzana Irsova). 2026. Nature 652, 151-156. Status: Published.
- [Spurious Precision in Meta-Analysis of Observational Research](https://meta-analysis.cz/maive/). Zuzana Irsova, Pedro Bom, Tomas Havranek, Heiko Rachinger. 2025. Nature Communications 16, 8454. Status: Published.
- [Publication Bias and Model Uncertainty in Measuring the Effect of Class Size on Achievement](https://meta-analysis.cz/class/). Matej Opatrny, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Milan Scasny. 2026. Journal of Labor Economics, forthcoming. Status: Forthcoming.
- [Publication and Attenuation Biases in Measuring Skill Substitution](https://meta-analysis.cz/skill/). Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Lubica Laslopova, Olesia Zeynalova. 2024. Review of Economics and Statistics 106(5), 1187-1200. Status: Published.
- [Intertemporal Substitution in Labor Supply: A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/frisch/). Ali Elminejad, Tomas Havranek, Roman Horvath, Zuzana Irsova. 2023. Review of Economic Dynamics 51, 1095-1113. Status: Published.
- [Measuring Capital-Labor Substitution: The Importance of Method Choices and Publication Bias](https://meta-analysis.cz/sigma/). Sebastian Gechert, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Dominika Kolcunova. 2022. Review of Economic Dynamics 45, 55-82. Status: Published.
- [Estimating the Armington Elasticity: The Importance of Study Design and Publication Bias](https://meta-analysis.cz/armington/). Josef Bajzik, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Jiri Schwarz. 2020. Journal of International Economics 127, 103383. Status: Published.
- [Do Borders Really Slash Trade? A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/border/). Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova. 2017. IMF Economic Review 65(2), 365-396. Status: Published.
- [Cross-Country Heterogeneity in Intertemporal Substitution](https://meta-analysis.cz/substitution/). Tomas Havranek, Roman Horvath, Zuzana Irsova, Marek Rusnak. 2015. Journal of International Economics, 96(1), 100-118. Status: Published.
- [Estimating Vertical Spillovers from FDI: Why Results Vary and What the True Effect Is](https://meta-analysis.cz/spillovers/). Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova. 2011. Journal of International Economics 85(2), 234-244. Status: Published.
- [Financial Incentives and Performance: A Meta-Analysis of Experiments in Economics](https://meta-analysis.cz/incentives/). Petr Cala, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Martina Luskova, Jindrich Matousek, Jiri Novak. 2026. Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics, forthcoming. Status: Forthcoming.
- [Individual Discount Rates: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Evidence](https://meta-analysis.cz/discrate/). Jindrich Matousek, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova. 2022. Experimental Economics 25(1), 318-358. Status: Published.
- [How Puzzling Is the Forward Premium Puzzle? A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/forward/). Diana Zigraiova, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Jiri Novak. 2021. European Economic Review 134, 103714. Status: Published.
- [Determinants of Horizontal Spillovers from FDI: Evidence from a Large Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/bma/). Zuzana Irsova, Tomas Havranek. 2013. World Development 42, 1–15. Status: Published.
- [Does Daylight Saving Save Electricity? A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/dst/). Tomas Havranek, Dominik Herman, Zuzana Irsova. 2018. The Energy Journal 39(2), 35–61. Status: Published.
- [Demand for gasoline is more price-inelastic than commonly thought](https://meta-analysis.cz/gasoline_price/). Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Karel Janda. 2012. Energy Economics 34(1), 201–207. Status: Published.
- [Selective reporting and the social cost of carbon](https://meta-analysis.cz/scc/). Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Karel Janda, David Zilberman. 2015. Energy Economics 51, 394–406. Status: Published.
- [Measuring the Income Elasticity of Water Demand: The Importance of Publication and Endogeneity Biases](https://meta-analysis.cz/water/). Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Tomas Vlach. 2018. Land Economics 94(2), 259–283. Status: Published.
- [Tuition Fees and University Enrolment: A Meta-Regression Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/education/). Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Olesia Zeynalova. 2018. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 80(6), 1145-1184. Status: Published.
- [Student Employment and Education: A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/students/). Katerina Kroupova, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova. 2024. Economics of Education Review 100, 102539. Status: Published.
- [Relative Risk Aversion: A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/risk/). Ali Elminejad, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova. 2025. Journal of Economic Surveys 39(5), 2315–2333. Status: Published.
- [Does Shareholder Activism Create Value? A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/activism/). Josef Bajzik, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Jiri Novak. 2025. Corporate Governance: An International Review 33(5), 1039–1061. Status: Published.
- [Is research on hedge fund performance published selectively? A quantitative survey](https://meta-analysis.cz/hedge/). Fan Yang, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Jiri Novak. 2024. Journal of Economic Surveys 38(4), 1085–1131. Status: Published.
- [Foreign capital and domestic productivity in the Czech Republic: a meta-regression analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/fdi/). Mojmir Hampl, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova. 2020. Applied Economics 52(18), 1949–1958. Status: Published.
- [Publication Bias in Measuring Anthropogenic Climate Change](https://meta-analysis.cz/climate/). Dominika Reckova, Zuzana Irsova. 2015. Energy & Environment 26(5), 853-862. Status: Published.
- [Meta-analysis of social science research: A practitioner's guide](https://meta-analysis.cz/guidelines/guide/). Zuzana Irsova, Hristos Doucouliagos, Tomas Havranek, T. D. Stanley. 2024. Journal of Economic Surveys 38(5), 1547–1566. Status: Published.
- [Weighted Adjustment Instrumental Variable Estimator](https://meta-analysis.cz/waive_ottawa.pdf). Tomas Havranek, Pedro Bom, Petr Cala, Zuzana Irsova, Heiko Rachinger. Status: Presentation.
- [The Residual Discontinuity Test for p-Hacking](https://meta-analysis.cz/rdt_chemnitz.pdf). Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Pedro Bom, Heiko Rachinger. Status: Presentation.
- [Does Multi-Agent Debate Improve AI Feedback on Research Papers?](https://meta-analysis.cz/debate/). Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova. Status: Working paper.
- [Do Decisions about Outliers and Influential Effects Matter? Evidence from 358 Behavioral Science Meta-Analyses](https://meta-analysis.cz/outliers/). Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Martina Luskova, T. D. Stanley. Status: Working paper.
- [Do Methods Matter in the Meta-Analysis of Partial Correlation Coefficients?](https://meta-analysis.cz/pcc_survey/). T. D. Stanley, Petr Cala, Hristos Doucouliagos, Zuzana Irsova, Tomas Havranek. Research Synthesis Methods. Status: Revise and resubmit.
- [The Power of Science: Statistical Power in Published Research Across Five Disciplines](https://meta-analysis.cz/power/). Yue Wang, Frantisek Bartos, Tom Coupe, Tomas Havranek, Sanghyun Hong, Zuzana Irsova, W. Robert Reed. Status: Working paper.
- [Meta-Analysis of Field Studies on Beauty and Professional Success](https://meta-analysis.cz/beauty/). Zuzana Irsova, Tomas Havranek, Kseniya Bortnikova, Frantisek Bartos. Nature Human Behaviour. Status: Revise and resubmit.
- [Effect of Exercise on Cognition, Memory, and Executive Function: A Study-Level Meta-Meta-Analysis Across Populations and Exercise Categories](https://meta-analysis.cz/exercise/). Frantisek Bartos, Martina Luskova, Kseniya Bortnikova, Karolina Hozova, Klara Kantova, Zuzana Irsova, Tomas Havranek. Sports Medicine. Status: Revise and resubmit.
- [Publication Bias and P-Hacking in the Effect of COVID-19 on Learning](https://meta-analysis.cz/learning/). Martina Luskova, Nino Buliskeria, Ali Elminejad, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Stepan Jurajda, Marek Kapicka. Status: Working paper.
- [Optimal Inflation Rate: A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/inflation/). Matej Opatrny, Martin Opatrny, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Mojmir Hampl. Status: Working paper.
- [Price Elasticity of Electricity Demand: A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/electricity/). Peter Kudela, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Anna Kudelova, Vojtech Sikl. Status: Working paper.
- [The Elasticity of Substitution between Native and Immigrant Labor: A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/migrant/). Klara Kantova, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Jiri Schwarz. Journal of Economic Surveys. Status: Revise and resubmit.
- [Trust, Rule of Law, and the Size Premium: Evidence from a Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/trust/). Jiri Schwarz, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Jiri Novak. Status: Working paper.
- [Do Female Directors Raise ESG Ratings? A Meta-Analysis](https://meta-analysis.cz/esg/). Karolina Hozova, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova. Status: Working paper.
- [What Matters in Explaining the Variation in Hedge Fund Performance?](https://meta-analysis.cz/alphas/). Fan Yang, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova, Jiri Novak. International Review of Economics and Finance. Status: Revise and resubmit.

## Research use

- Three Nobel laureates draw on her work: Thomas Sargent uses her results on intertemporal substitution in Dynamic Programming, Simon Johnson calibrates his model on them in the American Economic Review, and Joseph Stiglitz cites her estimate of capital-labor substitution, which Charles Jones and Christopher Tonetti take as the upper bound in Past Automation and Future A.I. [Source](https://meta-analysis.cz/impact/) [Source](https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20250064) [Source](https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/graf026) [Source](https://web.stanford.edu/~chadj/JonesTonetti_Automation.pdf)
- The Bank of England calibrates risk aversion in its new model of the UK economy on her meta-analysis. [Source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/macro-technical-paper/2026/a-uk-hank-model.pdf) [Source](https://meta-analysis.cz/impact/)
- The US Environmental Protection Agency calibrates the intertemporal substitution parameter of SAGE, its regulatory model, on her cross-country meta-analysis. [Source](https://meta-analysis.cz/impact/) [Source](https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-03/sage_model_documentation_2_1_1.pdf)
- Her work on foreign direct investment is used by the World Bank, IMF, OECD, UNCTAD, WTO and Inter-American Development Bank. [Source](https://meta-analysis.cz/impact/)
- Her work on daylight saving time is cited in every version of the Congressional Research Service report since 2018 and by the European Parliamentary Research Service and the UK House of Commons Library. Spain also drew on it in its 2025 note to the Council of the European Union on ending seasonal clock changes. [Source](https://meta-analysis.cz/impact/)
- Her work on gasoline demand, trade, carbon costs and water demand is cited in Science, PNAS and Nature Water. [Source](https://meta-analysis.cz/impact/)
- David Slichter and Nhan Tran use nine of her datasets in a paper forthcoming in the Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics. [Source](https://meta-analysis.cz/impact/)

## Open data

The collection contains 47 datasets and 58,484 estimates in their analysis samples, open under CC BY 4.0. [Dataset index](https://meta-analysis.cz/datasets/)

## Questions and answers

Who is Zuzana Irsova? Zuzana Irsova is Professor of Economics at Charles University in Prague. She works in meta-research, bringing together estimates from many studies to examine publication bias and the reliability of empirical evidence, with applications in labor and international economics. She is an elected member of Academia Europaea, a Research Affiliate at Stanford METRICS and Associate Editor for meta-analysis at the Journal of Economic Surveys. She co-maintains meta-analysis.cz. On RePEc she ranks in the top 1% of women economists worldwide, and in 2025 Forbes listed her among the Top Women Scientists in Czechia. Born in Roznava, Slovakia, she lives in Litomysl, Bohemia.

Is she the highest-ranked woman economist in the Czech Republic? Yes, in the RePEc Czech rankings as of September 2026. The 101st worldwide rank among women refers to publications in the last 10 years. [Source](https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.czech.html)

What was the Editors’ Prize? The best paper published in Experimental Economics in 2022; awarded in 2024 to Jindrich Matousek, Tomas Havranek and Zuzana Irsova. [Source](https://economicscience.org/news_manager.php?page=36768)

Last updated: 2026-10-08