Marc Schiffbauer is an economist in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management unit within the Middle East and North Africa region, primarily working on Mashreq countries. Marc joined the World Bank in September 2009 initially working in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. Prior to that, he worked for the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in Dublin and as a consultant for the European Central Bank and the IMF covering issues related to economic growth, firm productivity, and competition. Marc has a PhD in economics from the University of Bonn in Germany and was a one year visiting scholar at Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, and University of British Columbia, Vancouver.