Paul Bernd Spahn

Paul Bernd Spahn (born 17 October 1939) is emeritus professor of public finance at the Goethe University Frankfurt.

Born in Darmstadt,^[1] Spahn studied economics at the universities of Frankfurt, Paris (Sorbonne) and Rio de Janeiro and obtained his doctoral degree from the Free University of Berlin. Having spent more than five years at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin (DIW) he worked at various institutions such as Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Australian National University in Canberra, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. In 1979 he was appointed to the Goethe University.

Spahn was Vice President of Goethe University from 1986 to 1987 and the first Executive Director of the House of Finance in Frankfurt from September 2006 to June 2008. He was engaged in the establishment of the Goethe Business School and the Institute for Law and Finance in Frankfurt and taught there until 2014. As a visiting professor, he has served in Paris (American University), Lyon (Université Lumière), Valdivia (UACh), Mexico (ITAM), Perth (UWA), Los Angeles (UCLA), Christchurch (UC) and Montréal (UdM).

Spahn held consultancies with numerous research institutes in Europe and overseas. He has worked with international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the United Nations, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the European Commission, and the Council of Europe. For these institutions, he has advised over 70 governments worldwide. After his retirement in 2005, he served as Macro Fiscal Advisor to the Minister of Finance and Treasury of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 2008 to 2010 he was also a member of the Independent Commission on Funding and Finance for Wales in the United Kingdom.

During his time at the IMF, Spahn developed the concept for a tax to curb foreign exchange speculation (Spahn tax). Its proposal is a modification of the Tobin tax. Spahn has modified James Tobin's suggestion to have two tiers. There would be a low (perhaps even zero) rate for normal currency exchange and a higher normalization duty that would kick in during periods of high currency volatility. He also authored a study "On the feasibility of a Currency Transaction Tax" for the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, which has gained widespread attention.