Scientific staff

Boryana Madzharova is an empirical microeconomist and a senior researcher (Akademische Rätin) at the Chair of Public Finance at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Dr. Madzharova obtained her Ph.D. from CERGE-EI, Prague in 2013 and joined the team of Prof. Thiess Buettner in 2014. Her research predominantly conducts micro-level analysis of public policies with a broad focus on taxation. She is especially interested in various aspects of the Value Added Tax such as its design and taxpayers’ compliance in the presence of third-party reporting. Currently, her main research projects include the special economic zones of the Vysegrad countries, the 2014 Russian ruble devaluation, and European energy subsidies.

Annalisa Tassi joined the Chair of Public Finance in November 2019 as a junior research assistant. She earned her Master Degree in Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business in 2019. She wrote her master thesis on “The Employment Outcomes of Temporary Agents and Unemployed over the Business Cycle” analyzing Austrian microdata. She completed her Bachelor in Business and Economics at the University of Bologna in 2017. During her studies, she took part to exchange programs at the University of Innsbruck, the University of Vienna, and the University of Mannheim. Her research interests include labour economics, economic policy, and European affairs.

Maximilian Pöhnlein joined the Chair of Public Finance in November 2019 as a Research Assistant. He obtained his Master’s degree at the University of Konstanz, where he studied Economics from 2016 until 2019. During his M.Sc. studies, he spent a semester abroad at the Università degli Studi di Firenze in Florence. His Master’s thesis dealt with the intergenerational mobility in Germany. Prior to the M.Sc. studies in Economics, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Administration at the University of Konstanz. His research interests include topics of public finance, public economics, and labour economics.

William Dean joined the chair as a research assistant in July 2022 after completing his Master of Science in Economics at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg. He also holds an Honors BA from The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio, USA) in Chinese and History as well as a MA in East Asian Languages and Literature, specializing in Chinese economics literature. During his 2018 summer stay in Suzhou, China at Suzhou University and year-long 2018-2019 stay in Beijing, China at the University of International Business and Economics, he researched Chinese SOEs and studied topics in business and economics. His current research interests include public economics, spatial economics, and empirical work, with a current focus on tax changes and differentials as well as subsidies and tax incentives.

Vincent Herdegen joined the chair in September 2022 as the secretary of the German independent Advisory Board of the Stability Council. He obtained his Master of Science in Economics at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg. In his thesis, he applied forecasting methods for hierarchical data on German exports. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies and Economics from FAU. During his undergraduate studies, he completed a semester abroad at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow. His research interests include public economics, forecasting, econometrics in general and macroeconomics.

Timm Schärfke joined the Chair of Public Finance in September 2023. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Economics from LMU Munich. During his studies, he worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Macroeconomics and at the ifo Institut. In his master’s thesis, he covered the European Central Bank’s reaction to sovereign debt crises, implementing the new anti-fragmentation instrument in a calibrated two-country New Keynesian DSGE model. His current research focuses on government debt sustainability, debt limits, and fiscal discipline.