Basil Oberholzer is an economist with an emphasis on macroeconomics and monetary systems, an area he extensively researched on during his Ph.D. in macroeconomics and monetary policy at the University of Fribourg. His research has led him to publications in the areas of macroeconomics, development economics and ecological economics. He is currently working as an economist at the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment where he manages projects on topics such as ecosystem services, cost of inaction and policy evaluation.

He was a member of parliament at Canton St. Gallen in Switzerland where he was involved in environmental and social initiatives.