News

On May 12, 2008, IFN and the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) organized a one-day workshop on income distribution for specially invited researchers. Among the participants were Andrew Leigh, Australian National University, who also was a guest researcher at IFN on May 9–16, Rolf Aaberge, Statistics Norway, and Björn Gustafsson, Gothenburg University. Organizers were Daniel Waldenström, IFN, and Anders Björklund, SOFI. For further information please contact Daniel Waldenström.

Harald Edquist has a Ph.D. in Economic History from the Stockholm School of Economics. The focus of his research has been on comparative productivity development and the impact of new technology on productivity growth. At IFN he will take part in an international collaboration project studying competitiveness, innovation and intangible investment. Prior to joining IFN, he was a research director at SNS – The Swedish Center for Business and Policy Studies.

Richard Friberg is an Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics and will be visiting IFN until the end of May. The focus of his work is mainly on empirical Industrial Organization and International Economics. During his stay at IFN he will amongst other things do research on strategic behavior around mergers.

Henrik Jordahl has been given the title of Associate Professor (“Docent”) at Uppsala University. He earned his PhD from this university in 2002 and is presently supervising two graduate students at its Department of Economics.

Erik Lindqvist received his Ph.D. from Stockholm School of Economics in October 2007. The main paper in his dissertation studied privatization of residential youth care for teenagers with social problems. The focus of his research is on issues within organizational economics and political economics, but he is also interested in labor economics and demography.

IFN has initiated a new research program "The Economics of Electricity markets." this fall. The purpose is to analyse the functioning, structure and regulation of electricity markets. The program is jointly financed by the three large Swedish electricity suppliers Vattenfall, Fortum and E.ON., the Swedish system operator Svenska Kraftnät, as well as the consumer goods and paper company SCA. Ph.D. Thomas Tangerås and Ph.D Sven-Olof Fridolfsson are responsible for developing the program.

On September 10–11, IFN organized a workshop on the interaction between firms with different forms of ownership in the innovation and development process. The focus was on and how legislation, e.g. patent law, competition law, sector-specific regulation and taxation, affects this process. The participants consisted of a limited group of researchers within this specific area of interest.

To the conference site

The Swedish interest in Japan is low. The country does neither appear in the companies’ expansion plans, nor in the media reports, though Japan is the second biggest economy in the world, its positive growth and a dynamic integration with China. The question is whether the Swedish companies take advantage of the potential that exists in Japan.

Professor Naoyuki Yoshino, Keio University, Tokyo, and Mattias Bergman, Vice President Asia, the Swedish Trade Council, are invited speakers at the seminar. Professor Fredrik Sjöholm, IFN, will lead the discussions.

Dr. Nannan Lundin will join the IFN as a researcher during autumn of 2007. Nannan took her Ph.D. at Örebro University in 2004 and has since worked for the OECD’s Directorate of Science, Technology and Industry in Paris. Her research focuses primarily on innovation policies in China which has made her a much sought after participant in policy projects at organizations such as OECD and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in China.

This two-day conference was the sixth in a series of Nordic workshops focusing on industrial organization. The overall purpose of the workshop was to stimulate cooperation and exchange of knowledge among Nordic researchers in the field of industrial organization.

To the conference site

Fredrik Sjöholm has been appointed Professor in international economics at Örebro University. He will be managing and further developing the university’s research program on globalization issues. Fredrik Sjöholm will serve as professor on a part time basis and continues to have his main affiliation at IFN.

The crucial importance of entrepreneurship for growth and the development of welfare has lately come to be increasingly emphasized in economic research and the political debate. For this reason, IFN has initiated a research program where research within this area can be collected.

To the Program site

An evaluation of the research at IFN shows a considerable increase in productivity in 2006. This is the case, notwithstanding if we measure the number of Working Papers, articles or book chapters published in Swedish and international journals.

On November 20, the Research Institute of Industrial Economics arranged a conference on globalization of the service production and the conditions for small open economies, such as the Swedish economy. Study the Minister for Foreign Trade Mr Sten Tolgfors’ speech, presentations from the participating researchers as well as comments from some Swedish policy debaters.

To the conference site

Professor Magnus Henrekson, Director of IFN (Research Institute of Industrial Economics) participated on Thursday November 8, in Part 5/fall of 2012, in the Ekonomiklubben at Axess TV. Issues discussed included the U.S. economy and corporate taxation.