Matthias Bauer
Email: matthias.bauer@ecipe.org
Office: +32 (0)2 289 1350 Mobile: +32 (0)499 053 105
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Areas of Expertise: European Union Eurozone Crisis EU Trade Agreements Digital Economy EU Single Market WTO and Globalization Services

Matthias Bauer is a German economist and Director at the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE). He works on EU and global trade policy with a focus on digital and technology policymaking.
Matthias Bauer is the author of several studies, economic impact assessments and policy briefs in the fields of international trade, digital markets, the regulation of data, innovation, and intellectual property rights. He is regularly consulted by private and public sector organisations on a broad range of policy issues ranging from impact analysis to strategic advice.
Bauer grew up in Eastern Germany. He is an alumni of the US international visitor leadership program (IVLP). He studied business administration at the University of Hull, UK, and economics at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany. He received his Ph.D. degree after joining the Bundesbank graduate programme on the “Foundations of Global Financial Markets and Financial Stability”.
Before joining ECIPE, Matthias Bauer was the Coordinator of International Political Economy at the international cooperation division of Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Berlin. He previously held positions at DekaBank, UBS, Mercedes-Benz China, and worked as a start-up and business development consultant. Matthias is a member of Tutwa Europe’s economic policy expert network. He is also the co-founder of the German-based Institute for Digital Education (IfODiB).
ECIPE Policy Briefs
The EU Digital Markets Act: Assessing the Quality of Regulation
The proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA) is an opportunity to prevent and remedy anti-competitive conduct by large digital platforms. If the Act is designed in an adequate manner to target specific problems, it can improve the contestability of platform services markets and markets that rely substantially on digital services. However, the DMA takes a novel approach to regulation, and novelty in concepts and regulatory requirements can lead to outcomes that later have...
ECIPE Occasional Papers
Strategic Autonomy and Long-term Innovation Competitiveness: On the Importance of Intellectual Property Rights for the Production of High-Value Medicines in the EU
Europe’s political leaders have in recent months called for “European industrial autonomy”. Notions of dependency, sovereignty and resilience are now also referred to in policy proposals targeted at pharmaceutical companies, with “strategic autonomy” being the ultimate political ambition. The precise meaning of strategic autonomy in biopharmaceutical industries remains yet to be defined, although the current Pharmaceutical Strategy only refers to “open...
ECIPE Occasional Papers
Unintended and Undesired Consequences: The Impact of OECD Pillar I and II Proposals on Small Open Economies
Corporate tax laws vary significantly between different jurisdictions. Over the past four decades, governments globally competed for business activity by lowering statutory and effective corporate tax rates. Many governments provide special tax incentives for businesses to invest and expand employment. Special economic zones often grant full corporate tax exemptions to stimulate commercial development. Corporate income tax incentives for research and development...
ECIPE Occasional Papers
Europas Streben nach Technologiesouveränität: Chancen und Risiken für Deutschland und die Europäische Union
In den vergangenen Monaten wurden von einigen führenden Europapolitikern Strategien zur Erreichung einer sog. „europäischen Technologiesouveränität“ gefordert. Die Fokussierung auf technologische und zuweilen auch „industrielle Souveränität“ durch Politiker in Brüssel, Paris und anderen Hauptstädten ist vor allem als Reaktion auf die Verringerung des wirtschaftlichen Gewichts und des politischen Einflusses Europas in der Welt zu verstehen. Im...
Media Mention
Как законно се избягва плащането на данъци и близо или далеч е решението?
Matthias Bauer comments on OECD / G20 corporate tax reform and digital...
Media Mention
What’s In a Name? EU Digital Levy Isn’t a Tax, Vestager Says
Matthias Bauer comments on the European Commission's proposed digital levy regime for the...
Media Mention
Taxing times lie ahead
Matthias Bauer comments on misguided attempts to globally govern corporate...
Media Mention
EU och OECD är fel ute om bolagsskatten
Matthias Bauer's research on corporate taxation discussed in Dagens industri, Swedens leading business...
Article
Why a global minimum corporate tax rate may never be implemented
Matthias Bauer argues that governments will continue to compete for investments and business activity by offering businesses subsidies and...
Article
The EU’s new digital and data strategy: condemned to fail
Matthias Bauer writes for Encompass on the new EU data and industrial...
Article
Kabotage-Gesetze: Über den Versuch Emmanuel Macrons, Mittel- und Osteuropäer aus dem Europäischen Binnenmarkt zu drängen
Matthias Bauer writes (in German) about the negative implications of restrictions of cabotage in EU freight...
Article
Web Tax, M5S: ‘C’è chi crede che più che di nuove tasse abbiamo bisogno di una nuova fiscalità’
Matthias Bauer interviewed by ilblogdellestelle on the EU's Digital Services...
Book or Paper
Digital Market Act: Competition, Private Property, Innovation and the Interests of the Users
In a joint study with the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, Matthias Bauer analyses the consequences of the Digital Markets...
Book or Paper
The economic costs of restricting the cross-border flow of data
In a joint Kearney-ECIPE study, Dr Matthias Bauer and Dr Erik van der Marel analyse the economic impacts of restrictions on the free flow of data...
Book or Paper
Should Unfairness be Maintained in Corporate Taxation? The Disguise of the Tax Incidence in EU and OECD Corporate Tax Planning
This study is meant to address the failure of governments and international institutions (e.g. the EU, OECD and IMF) to account for the...
Book or Paper
NGO Lobbying on Trade and Investment: Accountability and Transparency at the EU Level
Matthias Bauer writes about Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) impact EU policymaking in trade and investment...
Speech or Presentation
Digital Taxes and Trade in Services
Matthias Bauer talks about myths and misconceptions in the debate about taxes on digital...
Speech or Presentation
Cybersecurity in the EU: Is there a European way?
Matthias Bauer discusses the Swedish postal authority's decision to ban Huawei and ZTE from Swedish telecoms markets because of perceived...
Speech or Presentation
Europe’s Quest for Technology Sovereignty: Opportunities and Pitfalls
Matthias Bauer presentation for ECIPE Webinar: Europe’s Quest for Technology Sovereignty – What Lessons Learned From the Covid-19 Crisis? on the...
Speech or Presentation
Should Unfairness be Maintained in Corporate Taxation?
Matthias Bauer's presentation of tax incidence effects and matters of tax...