Börsch-Supan holds a diploma in mathematics from Bonn, Germany, and a Ph.D. in economics from M.I.T. He was Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University 1984-1989, then Professor for Macroeconomics and Public Policy at Mannheim University.Since 2011, he directs the Munich Center for the Economic of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy in Munich and holds a professorship at the Technical University of Munich.
He leads the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), is member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Berlin-Brandenburg and the Austrian Academy of Sciences; and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass. His policy consulting includes: Council of Advisors to the German Economics Ministry (chair 2004-08), two German Pension Reform Commissions, ministries in Germany, other governments in EU, EU Commission, OECD, and World Bank.