Martin Pfaff (born 31 March 1939) is a German economist and politician of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

(SPD) who was a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

from 1990 to 2002.

Early life and education

Pfaff was born in

Tevel Tevel is a village in Tolna County, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Ro ...

(now in

Tolna County Tolna ( hu, Tolna megye, ; german: Komitat Tolnau) is an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus or megye) in present Hungary as it was of the former Kingdom of Hungary. It lies in central Hungary, on the west bank of the ...

, Hungary) on 31 March 1939. After completing high school, he studied in India, graduating with a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

degree in 1961. He then studied at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in the United States, earning an MBA in 1963 and PhD in economics. During his student years he was a staff member and honorary treasurer of two schools for the blind in India, from 1958 to 1962.

Academic career

From 1965 to 1974, Pfaff worked as a university lecturer and professor at various universities in the United States. Since 1971 he has also held an economics chair at the

University of Augsburg The University of Augsburg (german: Universität Augsburg) is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 8 Faculties. The University of Augsburg is a relatively you ...

. He was founder and scientific director of the International Institute for Empirical Social Economics (INIFES), a socioeconomic research center based in Stadtbergen, near Augsburg. He has authored and edited several books and monograph and numerous articles on economic and social policy.

Political career

In 1976 Pfaff became a member of the local branch of the SPD in Hochfeld, and he soon became a local party leader for

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

. He became a member of the Association of the Social Democrats for Health Care (ASG) and in 1994, National Chairman of the ASG. In 1990, Pfaff was elected to the

, where he served three terms of office, until 2002.

Personal life

He is married to

Anita Bose Pfaff Anita Bose Pfaff (born 29 November 1942) is an Austrian-born economist, who has previously been a professor at the University of Augsburg as well as a politician in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She is the daughter of Indian national ...

(born 1942), also an economics professor, and the daughter of Indian nationalist

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperia ...

. They have three children: Peter Arun, Thomas Krishna, and Maya Carina.

References

External links

*
Official biography on the Bundestag website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pfaff, Martin 1939 births Living people People from Tolna County Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni German economists Subhas Chandra Bose Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany