Mathias Hoffmann is Professor of International Trade and Finance at the Department of Economics at University of Zurich. His research focuses on the macroeconomic aspects of international financial integration and on the link between asset markets and the macroeconomy more generally. His recent published articles include papers on the determinants of international capital flows and imbalances, the international transmission of business cycles, banking regulation and on international risk sharing. Prior to arriving in Zurich in 2006 he was Professor of Economics at the University of Dortmund, Lecturer at Southampton University and a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley. Mathias Hoffmann has held visiting positions at Deutsche Bundesbank, the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research and Keio University and is a fellow of the CESifo network. He obtained his undergraduate education in economics and mathematics at WHU Koblenz, Brandeis University and the University of Bonn and a PhD in Economics from the European University Institute in Florence.