Prof. Dr. Martina Metzger

Office hours

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
  • Monetary architecture
  • Exchange rate regimes
  • Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)
  • (Digital) Community currencies
  • Digital financial services incl. crypto-assets and mobile money
  • Financial sector development of emerging markets and developing countries
  • Regional financial and monetary co-operation
  • Financial market regulation (Basel I-III, macroprudential supervision)

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 Member of Academic Senate of BSEL
  • 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).

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,  American Economic Association, the Migration Research Hub (by IMISCOE) and the International Network for Economic Research (INFER), 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, sometimes, 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 inspection 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

Jonas Plattner, Student Assistant

Jonas holds a bachelor's degree in International Relations and Philosophy from the University of Erfurt. He is currently enrolled in the EPOG master's program at HWR Berlin and Université Sorbonne and studies music at the Berlin University of the Arts. His research interests lie in the areas of post-Keynesian macroeconomics, ecological economics, and development economics. Jonas was an active member of the local branch of Rethinking Economics (Plurale Ökonomik) in Erfurt, where he has organized and conducted two seminars on pluralist economics and the Modern Monetary Theory. He has also gained experience as a tutor for theories of international relations. Jonas is a member of the Samuel Pufendorf Society for Political Economy and the association “Mission Fair Transition”, where he deals with issues related to the ecological transformation of the EU economy. He assists Prof. Metzger with lecture preparation and administrative tasks.

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.

Tim Riedler, Research Associate

Tim Riedler is a research assistant at the DBU in the BMBF research project InnoTwin. He is also 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 was also 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.

Linus Zechlin, Student Assistant

Linus Zechlin has been a doctoral candidate at University College Dublin since 2024 and is part of the European Research Council project Democracy Challenged. As part of his doctoral studies, he is researching tax avoidance by multinational corporations and the influence of corporate power on wealth distribution and democratic institutions. He holds master's degrees from HWR Berlin in International Economics and from Université Sorbonne Paris-Nord in Economic and Policy Analysis. Linus's other research interests include complex system economics, international political economy, financialization, and inequality.

Lectures, Seminars & Theses

Summer term 2026

Research sabbatical 

Winter term 2026/2027

 

Theses

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

2025

2024

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 (POLITEIA Medaille des HTMI 2023)

2022

2021

2020

2019

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

2025

2024

  • Estrada Pox, Anton Paul: Strukturelle Faktoren und Inflationsentwicklung in der Eurozone: Wirksamkeit der Politik der quantitativen Lockerung
  • Hresko, Anastasiia: Impact of Anti-Trust Regulations in the EU and the US on the Valuation and Structure of M&A Deals
  • Plinke, Paula Lucia Susann: Fintechs im deutschen Markt – Chance or Risiko für die traditionellen Banken?
  • Reichel: Jan: Polen und die Einführung des Euro – Versuch einer wirtschaftlichen Bewertung
  • Riabova, Valentyna: Fiscal Policy Response to Tame High Inflationary Pressures. A Case Study of Germany (2021-2023)
  • Wilz, Nico: Währungsbindung der CFA Franc-Zone: Eine Analyse der Chancen und Risiken einer Abkoppelung vom Euro

2023

2022

2021

2020

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

Publications & Talks

  • Member in programme 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.
  • Expert opinions, e.g. on behalf of the Financial Committee of the German Bundestag
  • 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
  • Symbiosis Institute of Business Management at Symbiosis International University Bengaluru (India), Central Bank Digital Currencies – The Digital €uro, 24 January 2025.
  • 4th International European Modern Monetary Theory Conference on Money and Power, panellist Economic Policy and Policy-Making in the Eurozone, Berlin, 31 August 2024.
  • Centre for International Trade and Development, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Financial Inclusion, Mobile Money and Regulatory Architecture, International Conference on Recent Developments in Economics Research: Theory and Evidence, New Delhi, 7-8 March 2024.
  • Money and Finance in Turbulent Times, 23 Monetary Policy Workshop, Berlin, 23 October 2025. Scientific Organisers: South Western University of Finance and Economics Chengdu (China), Berlin School of Economics and Law, Deutsche Bundesbank, Regional Office Berlin and Brandenburg.
  • 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 2025: Joint CfP and book Inclusive Finance and Empowerment of the Marginalized: https://www.adb.org/adbi/research/call-for-papers/call-for-papers-on-inclusive-finance-and-empowerment-of-the-marginalized (with Mandira Sarma, Arief Ramayandi, and Dil Rahut)
  • Since 2022: Moving Minds and Money (with Arafet Farroukh, Paula da Cunha Duarte, and Jennifer Pédussel Wu)
  • Since 2017: Liaison person of BSEL co-operation with Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE, Chengdu/China) and Deutsche Bundesbank Berlin and Brandenburg for the joint annual Monetary Policy Workshops.
  • 2021-2023: 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 – 2024: 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 is a research network formed in 2022, driven by passionate students, professors, researchers, and professionals. The focus of the network is on the movement of monetary values and idea exchange within and between communities. Current research spans FinTech for underserved populations, empowering rural areas through digital devices, and exploring practical applications for digital payment methods and currencies.

OurVillage

The OurVillage Cameroon project, launched in 2020 by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), addresses seasonal income fluctuations in rural communities in Cameroon. During the dry season, reduced agricultural production and ongoing demand often lead to retail demand shifting from villages to larger cities at the expense of local economies.

To tackle this, the project introduced an unbacked digital community currency that can only be used within each village. Accessible via mobile phones, this community currency helps to keep money circulating locally and strengthen economic resilience. The initiative has been implemented in three communities Bameka, Batoufam, and Fondjomekwet.

A research team from the “Moving Minds and Money” network, led by Martina Metzger, Jennifer Pédussel Wu, and Arafet Farroukh, evaluates the project through qualitative analysis, user surveys, and field engagement. Their work results in reports, recommendations, and a monitoring system that tracks the project’s effectiveness.

Findings are shared with GIZ, other stakeholders and other interested parties. 

Summer school (2022) and DiGiCamp (2023, 2024) in cooperation with Faculté des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion de Université 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 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. 

Co-operation partners: Deutsche Bundesbank Regional Office Berlin and Brandenburg, 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.

This co-operation, launched only in 2015, operated with a limited exchange of students, lecturers and professors. We intended 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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