Tobias Pfutze is a Senior Economist in the East Asia and Pacific Chief Economist Research Center based in the Malaysia office. He is an applied microeconomist with an interest in social protection policies, land tenure systems, and institutional economics. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked as an Associate Professor at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. He also held academic positions at Georgetown University, American University, and Oberlin College; and worked as a consultant for the World Bank and UNDP. His research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Development Economics, the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Economic Development and Cultural Change, and World Development. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from New York University (2008). He completed his undergraduate studies at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.