Marcel Fratzscher is one of the most influential German economists. He is President of DIW Berlin (German Institute for Economic Research), one of the leading research institutes and think tanks in Europe. He is also Professor of Macroeconomics and Finance at Humboldt-University Berlin, and a Member of the Advisory Council of the Ministry of Economy of Germany. His prior professional experience includes work as Head of the International Policy Analysis at the European Central Bank (ECB), where he worked from 2001 to 2012; the Peterson Institute for International Economics in 2000-01; before and during the Asian financial crisis in 1996-98 at the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia for the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID); and shorter periods at the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and in various parts of Asia and Africa. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from the European University Institute (EUI); a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government; a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) from the University of Oxford, and a Vordiplom in Economics from Kiel University. He is a European citizen, having grown up and having obtained his primary and secondary education in Germany. The work of Marcel Fratzscher focuses on topics in macroeconomics, monetary economics, financial markets and global economy. In September 2014, his book "The Germany Illusion: Why we overestimate our Economy and need Europe" was published. It reveals Germany's economic weaknesses and discusses critically the crisis of Europe. In his recent book "The Battle for Redistribution – Why Germany is becoming more unequal“ (March 2016) Marcel Fratzscher analyses the problems of the economy and society due to the high and rising inequality in Germany. He has been awarded the Kiel Institute Excellence Award in Global Economic Affairs in 2007 for his work on global financial linkages and monetary policy, and the CEPR 2007 Prize for the Best Central Bank Research Paper, for his work on asset price bubbles and global imbalances.