Christian Hagist is a Ph.D. student fellow at the Research Center for Generational Contracts, Freiburg University, Germany. He received a German Diploma (equivalent to a master's degree) in Economics from Freiburg University in 2003, and will finish his dissertation in the spring 2007. Hagist spent six month at Boston University in 2005 as a visiting scholar where he worked with Laurence Kotlikoff.

Laurence J. Kotlikoff, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, is Professor of Economics at Boston University, Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Fellow of the Econometric Society, a member of the Executive Committee of the American Economic Association and President of Economic Security Planning, Inc., a company specializing in financial planning software. Professor Kotlikoff received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973 and his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1977. From 1977 through 1983 he served on the faculties of economics of the University of California, Los Angeles and Yale University. In 1981-82 Professor Kotlikoff was a Senior Economist with the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Professor Kotlikoff is coauthor (with Alan Auerbach) of Macroeconomics: An Integrated Approach and Dynamic Fiscal Policy ; author of Generational Accounting, What Determines Savings?; coauthor (with Daniel Smith) of Pensions in the American Economy; and coauthor (with David Wise) of The Wage Carrot and the Pension Stick. In addition, he has published extensively in professional journals, newspapers and magazines.