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.

Since September 2018, Tobias Goerbert is the secretary of the fiscal council of Germany, which is called Independent Advisory Board of the Stability Council. His responsibilities include managing the board’s scientific service and communication with the public and other renowned German and European economic policy institutions like Deutsche Bundesbank, the German Council of Economic Experts and the European Commission.

He works as researcher at the Chair of Public Finance at FAU at the same time.

During his stay of 10 months at the Kiel institute for the World Economy (IfW), he earned an excellent education in international economic policy research from leading scholars from all around the world, e.g. the University of Chicago, Brown University and Yale University. He holds a master’s degree in economics from the university of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In addition, he studied business administration and mathematics.

Tobias Goerbert received a full tuition waiver for his studies at the Kiel Institute.

Anne Kesselring joined the Chair of Public Finance in October 2018 as a junior research assistant. Her master’s degree also came at FAU, where she studied Development Economics & International Studies from 2016 – 2018 and spent a semester abroad at Kyung-Hee University in Seoul, South Korea.  Her master’s thesis dealt with determinants of climate finance allocation in the combat against tropical deforestation (REDD+). Prior to FAU, she completed her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Oregon, USA, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and also earned a Minor in Mandarin Chinese.

Maximilian Pöhnlein joined the Chair of Public Finance in November 2019 as a Junior 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 role of gender in 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 applied microeconomics, labour economics and public economics.

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.