Johann Reindl was born in Upper-Austria and studied Economics and International Business at the University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna, specializing in monetary economics and financial markets and credit risk management. In his thesis he explored the theoretical and empirical relationship between financial markets and the business cycle on the basis of a stochastic growth model augmented with regime switching. During the last two years of his studies he worked in the Economic Research Department of a major Austrian Bank where he was involved in the asset allocation decision and the development of quantitative trading rules.