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 Senior Economist at ECIPE.
His areas of research include international trade, the economics of digital markets and the digital economy, European Single Market integration, European fiscal affairs and capital market policy.
Matthias 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 was the Coordinator of International Political Economy at the international cooperation division of Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Berlin. Previously, Matthias held positions at DekaBank, UBS, Mercedes-Benz China, and worked as a start-up and business development consultant.
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...
ECIPE Policy Briefs
Discrimination, Exclusion and Environmental Harm: Why EU Lawmakers Need to Ban Freight Transport Restrictions to Save the Single Market
The EU’s Mobility Package 1 legislative proposal was once intended to improve the working conditions of truck and small-van drivers in the EU. Initially, the European Commission also aimed at securing a smooth and non-discriminatory functioning of the Single Market. Some provisions of the current package may indeed have a positive impact on drivers’ working conditions, e.g. limits on working time and obligatory rest periods. However, over the past three years,...
New Globalization
Europe’s Quest for Technology Sovereignty: Opportunities and Pitfalls
Covid-19 and its broader implications have highlighted the importance of Europe’s digital transformation to ensure Europeans’ social and economic well-being. It provides important new learnings about Europe’s quest for “technology sovereignty”. While the debate about technology sovereignty is timely, the precise meaning of sovereignty or autonomy in the realm of technologies remains ambiguous. It should be noted that the political discussions about...
Media Mention
EU och OECD är fel ute om bolagsskatten
Matthias Bauer's research on corporate taxation discussed in Dagens industri, Swedens leading business...
Media Mention
INSIGHT: Taxing the Digital Economy—Pillar One Is Not BEPS 2 (Part I)
Matthias Bauer's research discussed by Bloomberg...
Media Mention
Plastik-, CO2- und Digitalsteuer EU-Eigenmittel und ihre Stolpersteine
Matthias Bauer's research discussed by ORF,...
Media Mention
Global Digital Trade 1: Market Opportunities and Key Foreign Trade Restrictions
Digital Trade Estimates Project Database used in USITC...
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...
Article
Watum es besser keine Digitalsteuer gibt
Matthias Bauer interviewed by Meinungsbarometer on the EU's Digital Services Tax initiative....
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...
Book or Paper
Digital Taxes as Barriers to Trade
Matthias Bauer writes about digital services taxes, which by design discriminate against foreign importers of certain digital...
Book or Paper
ECIPE submission to USTR Section 301 Investigation of France’s Digital Services Tax
ECIPE's comments address the motivation of the French government underlying its DST law and the extent to which it is unreasonable and...
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...
Speech or Presentation
Igitalsteuern und OECD-Reformprozess zur Internationalen Unternehmensbesteuerung
Matthias Bauer's presentation to the Finance Committee of Germany's liberal party...
Speech or Presentation
“Tax competitiveness in Europe: where do we stand?”
Matthias Bauer's talk at AmCham's tax event on “Tax competitiveness in Europe: where do we...