Sigurdur Pall Olafsson recently completed his PhD in economics at the Department of Economics of Copenhagen Business School. Sigurdur is Director General of the Department of Economic Affairs of the Icelandic Ministry of Finance. In recent years Sigurdur has been a part-time lecturer at Reykjavik University and University of Iceland. Sigurdur has, among other things, researched the effects of a reform of the Icelandic pension system on other saving, the effect of education on consumption and savings and the effects of a debt relief on consumption and saving. His primary research areas include household consumption and saving, pension economics and applied econometrics.