Prof. Dr. Martina Metzger

Office hours during summer term 2024

Upon appointment

If you need a letter of recommendation, please hand in the questionnaire. Please note that only students whom I know from my courses are entitled to receive a letter of recommendation. Please also consider to provide me with the questionnaire at least a fortnight before you have to deliver your application.

About

Areas of expertise

  • Money, macro and finance
  • Exchange rate regimes
  • Digital financial services incl. cryptocurrencies and mobile money
  • (Digital) Community currencies
  • Financial sector development of emerging markets and developing countries
  • Regional financial and monetary co-operation
  • Financial market regulation (Basel I-III, macroprudential supervision)
  • National and international financial and monetary architecture

Current service to the profession

  • Liaison person of BSEL co-operation with Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE Chengdu/China) and Deutsche Bundesbank Berlin and Brandenburg on monetary policy
  • Deputy Head of Commission for Equal Opportunities at HWR Berlin
  • Deputy Member of Academic Senate of HWR  
  • Study course co-ordinator for the MA module ‘Current Issues in Digital Financial Services’ (Joint BSEL/UTM Master course)
  • Study course co-ordinator for the MA module ‘Development Economics’ and for the MA module ‘Current Issues in International Economics’ (MA International Economics)
  • Study course co-ordinator for the BA module ‘National and International Financial Relations’ (BA Economics)
  • Study course co-ordinator for the BA module ‘International Economics / Internationale Wirtschaft’ (BA Economics; BA Business Administration; International Business Management)

Professional profile

Before joining BSEL, I worked for the non-partisan Berlin Institute for Financial Market Research, of which I was executive director. I was also with the Division on Globalisation and Development Strategies (DGDS) of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Geneva). I have studied economics and political science at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn and economics at the Free University of Berlin.

After receiving my diploma in economics (equivalent to a master degree) in Berlin I worked as a lecturer, research fellow and assistant professor for international economics and macroeconomics at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, the University of Applied Science (Berlin) and the Free University of Berlin from which I also hold a doctoral degree. With my colleagues at the Institute for International Political Economy at BSEL I share concerns about the extent and frequency of financial crises as well as about rising global inequality and (financial, social and economic) exclusion of individuals, communities and even complete countries.

Whom I support

  • Though according to German law tenured professors as civil servants are not allowed to strike, they are nevertheless employees. Hence, I am member of a trade union.
  • Since 2015 I am an appointed Lay Judge at the Berlin Social Court. I am assigned to chambers dealing with disputes of the statutory social insurance system, in particularly the public care, health and pension insurances.
  • Empowerment of civil society also requires the means and opportunities to speak up and give independent voices leverage. Hence, I am happy to subscribe and donate to both Afrika Süd (a journal on Southern African issues) and IZ3W (Information Centre Third World).
  • I also contribute to the Joe Strummer Foundation which devotes its activities around the world to empowerment through music

On my behalf

Professional and personal integrity are of importance to me. Regrettably, my discipline is not at the forefront of promoting professional economic ethics. Or as Georgio DeMartino (2012, p.2), one of the editors of The Oxford Handbook of Professional Economic Ethics, stated “Today, economics is certainly among the most important of professions in terms of its impact on the world. But in all that time the profession has never attended to the ethical burdens associated with influence over others.”

I am a member of inter alia the German Keynes Society, SUERF – The European Money and Finance Forum or the German and American Economic Association, but also the German Economic Association (Verein für Socialpolitik), which has accepted a code of ethics only in July 2012. Nevertheless, there are huge blind spots not being dealt with until today. This applies to many countries, but in particularly to Germany whose institutional setting to enforce (individual and structural) compliance in academia has to be assessed as weak. We do not have resilient self-control mechanisms or any form of whistle blower culture.

To the blind spots belong the following three issues. Although it is meanwhile a kind of international standard that researchers display the amount of research funding which they receive from external entities, the Code of Ethics of the German Economic Association only requires naming the external sources, but not the detailed amounts nor the regularity of that kind of finance. Second, by current law, German civil-servant professors are entitled to devote up to 20 per cent of their working time to so-called extra-mural activities. The only requirement is that they notify these activities in advance to the HR of their university and make an official request for permission; approval is a pure formality as long as the 20 per cent cap is not overdrawn. This leaves professors and contracting entities with an almost unlimited discretionary scope: they only need to fiddle with the daily lump sum to comply with this ‘requirement’. Professors are not automatically obliged to disclose their earnings derived from these extra-mural activities. Everyone who is familiar with the salary levels of German civil servants would not be surprised if many of these extra-mural activities generate revenues as much or even more than the official salary - and with that substantial conflicts of interest may rise. Third, professors are frequently offered discounts on private goods and services, for instance by publishing houses, for sample copies of text books for their courses. But also newspapers and non-academic journals, software and hardware companies and even private (health) insurances offer discounts. On the other side there is a strong rise in academic journals requiring researchers to pay for the referee process of their submitted papers. While the former should constitute the acceptance of amenities for private purpose, which - according to the letters of the law - is strictly forbidden for civil servants, the latter might be caused by a cut-down of library budgets during the last 25 years which had been a steady source of finance in former times. But none of the two trends and the potential conflict of interests arising from them are dealt with in the Code of Ethics of the German Economic Association.

Team

Tim Riedler, Research Associate

Tim Riedler, who was already a student assistant of Prof. Metzger during his Bachelor studies in economics, is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Cologne since 2020. He worked in the Hans Böckler Foundation project "(Spatial) employment effects of increasing online retail" until June 2022. Tim Riedler received his M.A. in International and Development Economics from the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. He previously received his B.A. in Economics from the Berlin School of Economics and Law. Tim Riedler gained relevant work experience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, the NGO Global Innovation Gathering and as a freelancer in a project of the Global Labour University.

Tim Riedler is part of BSEL’s team working on the GIZ project OurVillage in Cameroon, which introduces a Blockchain-based digital means of payment in rural communities.

Adrian Bittner Montoro, Student Assistant

Adrian Bittner Montoro, who completed his Bachelor's degree in Economics at HU Berlin and the Université Paris 1 Panthéon- Sorbonne, and, due to his continued interest in the subject, is enrolled in the consecutive Master's degree at HU Berlin, has been a student assistant at Prof. Metzger's chair at the HWR since October 2023. His academic interests lie in particular in the areas of Dynamic Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics and International Macroeconomics. Prior to this, in 2017, Adrian Bittner Montoro worked as an apprentice for two years at the Spanish headquarters of Siemens S.A. in Madrid as a Business Management Technician in the areas of purchasing, controlling and reporting.

In addition, he was a member of the Orchestra Allegro Madrid under the direction of Jorge Yagüe as a clarinetist from 2018-2019, and a private piano teacher.

Sarah Godar, Research Associate

Sarah Godar was research associate in the Master's Programme Tax Policy and Tax Administration and assisted both the Academic Director of the programme and the students in academic issues. She studied Economics and Sociology at the University of Potsdam and graduated in International Economics (M.A.) at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. Between 2017 and 2021 she was accepted into BSEL’s PhD programme. She gained a doctoral degree from the Institute of Economic Studies of Charles University (Prague). Now, she is a research associate at the EU Tax Observatory in cooperation with the Macroeconomics Department at DIW Berlin.

Linus Zechlin, Student Assistant

With a bachelor degree in Economics and a background in Japanese Studies as well, Linus Zechlin has studied at HWR, FU Berlin and Sophia University Tokyo. He currently is part of the EPOG double degree MSc program of HWR and Université Sorbonne Paris Nord and will finish his studies in Paris starting winter term '23. He is interested in development economics, international macro, gender and trade and generally interdisciplinary approaches. As the research assistant of Prof. Metzger he supports her in general matters as well, but mostly is involved in the OurVillage Cameroon research project, which is carried out in collaboration with GIZ Germany and revolves around complementary currencies in rural areas of Cameroon. Additionally to his work, he is an active member of the German subsidiary of the global Rethinking Economics network, promoting a holistic and heterodox approach to teaching, researching and thinking economics. He also is part of the YSI working group on development economics and participates in the 2023 YSI conference as a panel speaker

Former Student Assistants:

Gegenfurtner, Dennis        
Høst, Maria                    
Kulka, Ofer
MacGregor, Racheal      
Marcisiak, Maximilian     
Peist, Moritz
Pellegrini, Mariana
Schumann, Ben
Seligmann, Caroline
Sterzer, Irina
Türkel, Ersan
Voget, Rebekka

Lectures, Seminars & Theses

Summer term 2024

  • Current Issues in International Economics (MA International Economics)
  • International Economics (BA Economics; Business Administration)
  • International Economics (International Business Management)
  • National and International Financial Relations (BA Economics)
  • Current Issues in Digital Financial Services (Joint BSEL/UTM Master course)

Winter term 2023/2024

 

    Theses

    In the following we list supervised theses from the last years and provide access to excellent theses (with honours and distinction).

    2023

    • Dzhienbekova, Alima: Chinese Predatory Lending: The Case of Kyrgyzstan
    • Hänsch, Merritt: Exploring the Lipstick Effect phenomenon: A study on German consumer behaviour.
    • Miebs, Louis: The Role of Stablecoins as Shadow Money: An Assessment of the European Union Markets in Crypto Asset Regulation (MICA)
    • Strickert, Finn: Independent at last? The relationship between post-BREXIT fiscal and monetary policy in the UK
    • Waltl, Judith: Labour Market Barriers for the Trans & Nonbinary Community

    2022

    • Mucaj, Franko: Original Sin in East Asia since the Financial Crisis of the 1990s
    • Russo, David: An SDG Impact Framework for Community Currencies: The Case of Sarafu Credit in Kenya
    • Syed, Maria: Gendered Austerity and Cash Transfers in Pakistan and Brazil: A Gender-Sensitive Budgeting Assessment

    2021

    • Dotta, Vitor: Addressing Systemic Risk in Europe during Covid-19: policies, limitations, and challenges ahead
    • Gegenfurtner, Dennis: The Causes of Original Sin – an Empirical Investigation of Emerging Market and Developing Countries
    • Kirkina, Daria & Rost, Mykhailo (Collaborative work): De-industrialization in transition economies: The case of Ukraine
    • Licaj, Ronaldo: The macroeconomic determinants of the current account balance for the United Kingdom
    • Tucci, Candelaria Fernández: Original Sin and South-South Cooperation: Lessons for a Regional Monetary Cooperation in the Mercosur

    2020

    • Bergamini Lopes, Tais: The political and macroeconomic features of populism in Latin America
    • Crusius, Anja: The Political Economy of Sustainable Finance Strategy German GLS and Deutsche Bank Between Top-Down and Bottom-Up Sustainable Finance
    • Fiallos, Andrea: Macroeconomic Impacts of Remittances Inflows: A Central American Perspective
    • Hartmann, Laura: The Political Economy of Digital Colonialism and Alternatives – the DECODE Project
    • Jenyo, Olawale: African Continental Free Trade Area: The real deal?
    • Kardava, Anna: The Role of Sanctions in Shaping National Economy
    • Samsonova, Anastasiia & Voronina, Polina (Collaborative work): The digitalization impact on the performance of the Russian banking sector. Trends and cyber threads
    • Schiffler, Robin: The Role of Credit guarantee schemes in Promoting SME Finance in Developing Countries
    • Vuilletet, Colin: Financial Instability, the Sovereign-Bank Nexus and Eurobonds: a Post-Keynesian Stock Flow Consistent Model

    2019

    • Erdoğan, Furkan Serdar: The Spillover Effects and Implications of Monetary Policy on Emerging Markets After 2008 Financial Crisis: A Case Study for Brazil and Turkey
    • González del Castillo, Maite: Women and Climate Change – Integrating a Gender Perspective into Climate Policies
    • Murariki, Chenai: An Analysis on the Role of Mobile Banking of Financial Inclusion in Developing Countries: Case study of Zimbabwe
    • Rhys-Williams, Francesca: The Impact of Unconventional Monetary Policies on Gender and Racial Wealth Inequality: Evidence from the Large-Scale Asset Purchases in the United States
    • Rotermund, Sophie-Dorothee: Assessing Systemic Risk: An Analysis of the German Banking Sector
    • Stöckel, Michael: Regulation of Shadow Banking: Effectiveness of Financial Stability Reforms after the Global Financial Crisis - Assessment of the European Union's Plan to construct a 'resilient' Market for Securitisations
    • Wolf, Louisa Antonia: Digital Solutions to Assist Inclusive Financial Systems? Status Quo and Potential of Ghana
    • Zahid, Ali: Corruption and Capital Flight: An Empirical Assessment of Pakistan

    2018

    • Ball, Thomas: Prevention of Money Laundering by Financial Institutions in Germany
    • Bedoya, Sarahstrid: On the Trials and Tribulations of Capital Flows: How to Manage them in Emerging Market Economies?
    • Fung, Tommy: Cryptocurrencies
    • Metelchenko, Natalia: Transfer Pricing as a Driver of Global Profit Shifting
    • Osman, Melek: The road to the Euro: Bulgaria's Economic Development since 1989 under Currency Board Conditions
    • Titz, Sebastian: The European FinTech Sector - Do We Need a New Kind of Regulation?
    • Vonk, Rhianna: Financial Regulations and Free Trade Agreements: An Analytical Framework for Assessing Protections for Financial Regulations in Free Trade Agreements

    2017

    • Bois von Kursk, Olivier: An Institutional Economic Analysis of Green Finance
    • Borysko, Sofiia: Early Warning Indicators of the Crisis. Financial Vulnerabilities in Caucus and Central Asia
    • Letnikava, Anastasiya: External Debt in Emerging and Developing Countries - Risks and Means to Enhance Resilience
    • Rieger, Hannah: IMF Loan Conditionality - The Effect of Financial Crisis Loan Conditionality on the Wellbeing of a Country's Population - A Comparative Case Study Analysis

    2016

    • Mokgatlhong, Dineo Dorcus: Critical Examination of Tax Treaties in Botswana
    • Nakku, Mwajumah Mubiru: The Status of Double Taxation Agreements in Uganda - Opportunities and Challenges

    2023

    • Tinaz, Merwe: Carbon Footprint of Blockchain-Based Crypto Currencies
    • Dehkordi, Narjes: FDI and Economic Growth in Eurozone Countries: A Panel Data Analysis
    • Kerndl, Benedikt: Populism and it’s Economic Characteristics: A Case Study of the USA (2017-2021)
    • Lahcène, Nico Leone: Economic Governance of the European Union – An Analysis of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure – A Case Study of France

    2022

    • Akyüz, Alper: Inwieweit hat der Marshall Plan das deutsche „Wirtschaftswunder“ beeinflusst?
    • Heinrich, Stefanie: The curse of Venezuela’s oil. A descriptive analysis of Dutch disease symptoms
    • Miller, Jasmin: Bewertung der ökologischen Nachhaltigkeit von Universalbanken am Beispiel zweier, ausgewählter Ratingeinrichtungen
    • Reutter, Justus: Die Anforderungen an den digitalen Euro aus der Perspektive relevanter Stakeholder
    • Röder, Yunus: The devaluation oft the Turkish Lira: What caused its inflation from 2016 to 2018

    2021

    • Alexander, Timon: Zentralbanken in der COVID-19 Pandemie: Analyse der gelpolitischen Maßnahmen für die Finanz- und Realwirtschaft am Beispiel Neuseelands
    • Hellwig, Oskar: What are key factors of growth national economies? Analysing two known examples in their respective region: Republic of Korea for the East Asian region and Republic of Ireland for the European region
    • Nahrstedt, Jan: US Economic Sanctions on Cuba: An Analysis of the Reasons for their Maintenance
    • Paulini, Sebastian: An Analysis of Economic Structure and Commodity Flows in the German Armament Industry
    • Peist, Moritz: Regional integration and cooperation through the CFA Franc? – A case study on the influence of a currency arrangement on the WAEMU region
    • Stein, Viktoria: Corona-Krise: Auswirkungen der fiskalpolitischen Maßnahmen der Realwirtschaft

    2020

    • Al-Eryani, Hadil: The Impacts of the Austerity policy between 2009-2012 on the Healthcare system in Spain
    • Aytutucu, Hasan: Umwelt- und Klimaschutz in den Nachhaltigkeitskapiteln der Handelsabkommen der Europäischen Union
    • Fritzler, Kevin: Shadow banking in Argentina: What caused the rise of the phenomenon in this emerging economy?
    • Yapici, Onur: Beschäftigungswirkungen der deutschen Leistungsbilanzüberschüsse

    2019

    2018

    • Kleebank, Michael: Sportmarketing - Geschäft ohne Verantwortung?
    • Thiele, Jonas: Corporate Venture Capital als Strategiemittel zum Wandel der deutschen Automobilindustrie zum Service - und Mobilitätsdienstleister

    2017

    2016

    2015

    • Behrens, Alexandra: Eurobonds als Instrument zur Finanzmarktentwicklung?
    • Rätscher, Matthias: Schattenbanken – Eine unterschätzte Gefahr für das Finanzsystem?
    • Ringler, Katharina: Between Paradigms – Renewable Energy Policy of Chile

    Publications & Talks

    • Studies and position papers on national and regional financial market development, e.g. on North Africa and Middle East countries (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia), Sub-Saharan Africa (CMA, SACU, SADC, CFA, ECOWAS), South Asia (SAARC), Brazil, India and South Africa
    • Development of concepts and programmes for financial sector related schemes and capacity building, e.g. for representatives of central banks and regulatory authorities from the PRoC and Viet Nam
    • Expert opinions, e.g. on behalf of the Financial Committee of the German Bundestag
    • Member in program committees for conferences, seminars and workshops with both international, regional and local policy makers, supervisory authorities and practitioners, e.g. in China, India and South Africa
    • Talks and lectures, e.g. on behalf of Central Banking Events; missions abroad, e.g. Cameroon, Colombia & South Africa on behalf of GIZ or Deutsche Welthungerhilfe.

    2023

    • International Economic Association (IEA), Financial Inclusion, Mobile Money and Regulatory Architecture, 20th World Congress, Medellin (Colombia), 11-15 December 2023.
    • Southwestern University of Finance and Economics Chengdu (China), Berlin School of Economics and Law, Deutsche Bundesbank’s Regional Office in Berlin and Brandenburg, Mobile Money and Regulatory Architecture, 22 Monetary Policy Workshop ‘Digitalisation of Money and Finance, 23-24 November 2023.
    • International Network for Economic Research (INFER), Financial Inclusion, Mobile Money and Regulatory Architecture, 25th INFER Annual Conference 2023/ XXth INTECO Workshop on Economic Integration, Valencia (Spain), 6-8 September 2023.
    • International Network for Economic Research (INFER),Conceptual Issues of Community Currencies, 25th INFER Annual Conference 2023/ XXth INTECO Workshop on Economic Integration, Valencia (Spain), 6-8 September 2023.
    • Université de Tunis El Manár, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Conceptual Issues of Community Currencies, Digicamp II Innovation for Development – Digital Community Currencies, Hammamet (Tunisia), 20 June 2023

    Current work in progress:

    • Since 2019: Mobile Money, Financial Inclusion, and Regulatory Architecture: The Case of Kenya (with Maureen Were and Jennifer Pédussel Wu).
    • 2021-2024: Head of Project and leading investigator: Financial digitalisation of rural areas in Cameroon - Introduction of a blockchain-based local means of payment: Science-based monitoring and research of the social and economic effects of the GIZ-financed “Our Village project” in several villages in West Cameroon. https://www.giz.de/de/weltweit/108971.html
    • 2020 – 2022: Mitigating adverse social and health impacts of COVID-19 with applied arts – Evaluating recent SOEP-CoV data (with Hans Walter Steinhauer and Jennifer Pédussel Wu).  https://www.soep-cov.de/Kooperationen/

    Most recent publications:

    Projects

    Moving minds and money (MMM) is a project currently comprising two core components. Its goal is to produce well-founded research on the global financial industry in transition, as well as to support and initiate real-world projects in the context of financial inclusion and leveraging digital financial solutions with the objective of emancipation and independence.

    OurVillage

    Summer school (2022) and DiGiCamp (2023, 2024) in cooperation with FSEGT of Tunis El Manár

    The Digicamps are a joint initiative of BSEL and FSEGT Tunis revolving around critical issues concerning the development and rapidly progressing digitalisation of the global financial industry. The programmes encourage student involvement and seek their input in developing novel solutions and approaches to pressing questions within the field.

     

    In co-operation with Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE Chengdu/China) and Deutsche Bundesbank Regional Office Berlin and Brandenburg as well as the People’s Bank of China, Shanghai Head Office BSEL holds regularly monetary policy workshops. Actually, BSEL has a long-standing co-operation with SWUFE, going back as far as 1986; meanwhile it covers a double degree Master’s programme, regular exchanges of students, lecturers and professors, joint research projects and the monetary-policy-workshop series.

    The workshops seek to bring together representatives of academia with central bankers and policy makers for a dialogue on current issues of domestic monetary policy and international monetary architecture. They are alternately organised by SWUFE and BSEL. So, in November 2018 we were happy to meet our colleagues at the 19. Monetary Policy Workshop at the People's Bank of China, Shanghai. Due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the in-presence workshops had to stop for the time being.

    Co-operation partners: Deutsche Bundesbank Regional Office Berlin, SWUFE Chengdu.

    Funding: Deutsche Bundesbank, SWUFE, own resources.

    The Master´s programme in Tax Policy and Tax Administration (MA Tax) is a 15-month executive MA programme with a strong African and international focus. It is designed for experienced tax officials and policy-makers in Sub-Saharan Africa and the wider Global South. A functioning public-finance system represents the backbone of a capable state that provides public goods and services according to citizens’ basic needs and demands in a transparent and accountable manner. Thus it is suggested, then, that governments are committed to providing systems that ensure the effective, simple and fair collection of taxes in order to finance inclusive and sustainable development. The MA Tax programme intends to contribute to these goals.

    The third cohort of the MA Tax programme, in co-operation with ATAF and GIZ, has been put on hold until further notice. Although Berlin School of Economics and Law intended to open applications in the Fall of 2018, GIZ informed us that there would be a call coming for a renewed co-operation between ATAF, GIZ, and an eligible university to jointly offer a MA Degree in taxation.  Given this new situation, Berlin School of Economics and Law decided to postpone the opening of the application for the MA Tax programme. Any change to the Berlin School of Economics and Law position will be announced here. If you would like to be informed about future changes in the MA Tax programme by the Berlin School of Economics and Law, please send us an e-mail.

    Co-operation partners: African Tax Administration Forum,  Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD Brighton/UK), University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg/South Africa).

    Funding: European Union, German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.

    Strategic Partnership with National University of Science and Technology (NUST, Windhoek/Namibia)

    This relatively recent co-operation, launched only in 2015, operates since then with a limited exchange of students, lecturers and professors. We intend to deepen the co-operation with workshops on a topic of mutual interest and relevance for promoting sustainable development, for instance on FinTechs. Accordingly, we were happy to host the international workshop ‘FinTechs, Remittances and Development’ in Berlin, 21-22 June 2018. While in Africa still a relevant share of population is cut-off from traditional financial services, the access to digital services and the coverage with mobile phones is in the overwhelming majority of African countries comprehensive.

    In some African countries, we even find several pioneers of digital financial services. The most famous country pioneering digital financial services is Kenya, in which the traditional rift between telecommunication and financial services has been resolved. Several other countries are also displaying innovative entrepreneurial initiatives worthwhile to explore deeply the triggering and hampering factors in diverse macroeconomic and regulative environments. 

    Funding: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

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