Jacob Funk Kirkegaard is a senior fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics. Before joining the institute, he worked with the Danish Ministry of Defense, the United Nations in Iraq and in the private financial sector. He is a graduate of the Danish Army's Special School of Intelligence and Linguistics with the rank of first lieutenant; the University of Aarhus, Denmark; the Columbia University in New York; and he received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. His current research focuses on European economies and reform, immigration, foreign direct investment trends and estimations, pension systems, demographics, offshoring and the impact of information technology.