From 2011 to 2013, he was a member of the Enquete Commission "Growth, Prosperity, Quality of Life" of the German Bundestag.

From 2020 to 2021 he was a member of the "Corona-Expertenrat" (Corona Council of Experts) of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia.

He has been Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance in Munich since 2013, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation since 2014 and deputy chairman since 2020, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation since 2016, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Energy Economics Institute at the University of Cologne (EWI) since 2020,[1] and since 2020, member of the expert panel of the programme for the promotion of top-level research at universities ("Exzellenzstrategie") of the Joint Science Conference (GWK) and since 2021 member of the Supervisory Board of BMW AG.

His work focuses on applied econometrics, including energy, health, and labor economics, as well as on the interface between research and science-based policy advice.

[2] In April 2020, Schmidt was appointed by Minister-President Armin Laschet of North Rhine-Westphalia to a 12-member expert group to advise on economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.