Markus Loewe is research team leader at the German Development Institute/ Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Bonn, where he has been working since 1999. He studied economics, political science and Arabic in Tübingen, Erlangen and Damascus, and wrote his PhD-thesis on micro-insurance schemes in Heidelberg. His main areas of interest include social protection, poverty reduction/MDGs and the promotion of small and medium enterprises in developing countries. In addition, he has also published on demographic development, inclusive/propoor growth, anti-corruption policies, investment promotion, industrial policies and the impact of the recent global financial and economic crisis. His regional focus is the Middle East and North Africa region. His most recent publications include ’A Decade on: How Relevant is the Regulatory Environment for Micro and Small Enterprise Upgrading After All?’ (forthcoming in European Journal of Development Research, written with Tilman Altenburg and Aimée Hampel-Milagrosa); The entrepreneur makes a difference: Evidence on MSE upgrading factors from Egypt, India and the Philippines (2015 in: World Development 66, written with Aimée Hampel-Milagrosa and Caroline Reeg); and Pension Schemes and Pension Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa (in: Katja Hujo, ed., Reforming Pensions in Developing and Transition Countries, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).