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I am a Professor of Economics and Vice Dean at School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.
My research interests are development economics, economic history, the political economy of conflict, and economic growth.
Email: ola.olsson@economics.gu.se
Phone: +46 766 181341
News:
Workshop presentation of "The Political Economy of Bread and Circuses: A Reassessment of the Climate-Monumentality Nexus" (with Melissa Rubio and Christian Isendahl) at the Cities and the Wealth of Nations workshop at York University (May, 2024)
Workshop presentation of "Technological Foundations of Individualism and Collectivism" (with Ingela Alger) at the Cultures of Trust and Institutions of Freedom workshop in Prague (May, 2024)
"Cadasters and Economic Growth: A Long-Run Cross-Country Panel" (with Michelle D'Arcy and Marina Nistotskaya) forthcoming in Journal of Political Economy (March, 2024) (slides) (replication)
"Floods, Droughts, and Environmental Circumscription in Early State Development: The Case of Ancient Egypt" (with Laura Mayoral) forthcoming in Journal of Economic Growth (April, 2024)
Working paper: "Conditional Persistence? Historical Disease Exposure and Government Response to COVID-19" (with Annika Lindskog)(Nov, 2023) (SSRN) (slides)
New working paper: "Sustainable Economic Growth: A Critical Assessment of SDG 8.1" (with Pelle Ahlerup) (April, 2023)
Recent publications:
"Deep determinants of economic freedom" forthcoming in Handbook of Research on Economic Freedom (ed. N. Berggren). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing (slides) (2024)
"Roman Roads to Prosperity: Persistence and Non-Persistence of Public Infrastructure" (with Carl-Johan Dalgaard, Nicolai Kaarsen, and Pablo Selaya) Journal of Comparative Economics (May, 2022)
"The Origins of Cultural Divergence: Evidence from Vietnam" (2022) (with Hoang-Anh Ho and Peter Martinsson) Journal of Economic Growth 27, 45–89.