Matthias Thiemann

Matthias Thiemann is a sociologist of finance and a leading scholar of European financial regulation, central banking, and state–market relations. He is Full Professor of European Public Policy at Sciences Po Paris, affiliated with the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics. His work investigates how regulators, central banks, and development finance institutions govern increasingly complex financial markets, and how ideas and expertise shape the evolution of financial capitalism.

His academic trajectory began with a focus on shadow banking and regulatory arbitrage, culminating in his PhD in Sociology from Columbia University. His dissertation, Out of the Shadow – Accounting for Special Purpose Entities in European Banking Systems, established his long‑standing interest in the institutional dynamics that allow financial actors to circumvent regulatory constraints.

Thiemann completed his Habilitation de Recherche at Sciences Po in 2020, based on the manuscript Taming the Cycles of Finance? Ideational Change after the Financial Crisis and its Impact on Financial Regulation.

Before joining Sciences Po in 2017, he served as Junior professor for the Sociology of Banking, Money and Finance at Goethe University Frankfurt (2013–2017) and held a Post‑Doctoral position at ESSEC Business School’s Center for Capitalism, Globalization and Governance (2012–2013).

Visiting Fellowships

Thiemann has held several prestigious visiting positions at leading international research institutions. These fellowships have supported his comparative work on regulatory institutions, central banking, and the political economy of European financial governance.

• Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG), Cologne — Senior Research Fellow
• Columbia University, New York — Alliance Visiting Fellow (upcoming)
• University of Pennsylvania — Visiting Fellow
• Goethe University Frankfurt, Center for Law and Finance — Visiting Researcher
• University of Hamburg, Center for Sustainable Futures — Visiting Fellow

These appointments reflect his international recognition and his sustained engagement with interdisciplinary debates on finance, regulation, and institutional change.

Current Projects

KNOWLEGPO - Central banking in hard times: Knowledge, Legitimacy and Politics (2023-2026)

EvalEU 2 - Evaluating Blended Finance in the EU (2023-2025)

Latest news

Interview - À la poursuite de la stabilité financière après la crise : la lucidité impuissante des banquiers centraux

Vidéo - L’État investisseur européen : quand des acteurs publics jouent les investisseurs (avec Ulrike Lepont)

Analyse - La reconstruction de l’Ukraine : un tournant pour l’Union européenne ?

Vidéo - Maîtriser la flambée de l'immobilier dans l'UE ?

To know more

Matthias Thiemann's CV (PDF, 252 Ko)

Site web

Thiemann’s research examines how states and supranational institutions attempt to govern financial markets characterized by innovation, opacity, and political contestation. His work contributes to debates on:

• Macroprudential regulation and financial stability
   
• Central bank politics and the rise of macro‑finance
   
• Shadow banking and regulatory arbitrage
   
• Development banking and the “European Investor State”
   
• Blended finance and EU enlargement governance

His methodological approach combines qualitative research, archival work, and computational text analysis, including citation networks and topic modeling.

He is involved in major research projects on central banking, blended finance, and the transformation of European economic governance.

At Sciences Po, Thiemann teaches courses on:

• Development Banking in Europe and beyond
   
• Financial regulation and macroprudential governance
   
• Political economy of regulation
   
• Comparative capitalism

He supervises doctoral and master’s students working on financial governance, central banking, regulatory politics, and the sociology of markets as well as on EU enlargement.

Thiemann is the author of several influential books:

• Taming the Cycles of Finance? Actionable Knowledge and the Fate of Macroprudential Regulation (Cambridge University Press, 2024)
   
• The Growth of Shadow Banking: A Comparative Institutional Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
   
• The Reinvention of Development Banking in the European Union (Oxford University Press, 2021, co‑edited with D. Mertens & P. Volberding)

His peer‑reviewed articles appear in leading journals such as American Journal of Sociology, New Political Economy, Journal of European Public Policy, Economy & Society, and Regulation & Governance. The attached CV lists recent work on the European Investor State, macro‑finance, ECB politics, and EU enlargement finance, reflecting his broad engagement with contemporary transformations in European economic governance.