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I am a Professor of Economics and Head of Department of Economics 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. I teach macroeconomic theory at all levels.
Follow me on BlueSky.
Email: ola.olsson@economics.gu.se
Phone: +46 766 181341
My new book Paleoeconomics: Climate Change and Economic Development in Prehistory is now published and available as soft cover or ebook from Palgrave Macmillan/Springer.
Free addendum chapter with deeper theoretical expositions: Paleoeconomics: A Conceptual Framework
News:
Academic talks during winter/spring 2025: ASSA, San Francisco, Jan 5; Third Bolzano Workshop in Historical Economics, Jan 25; Lund University, Feb 12; Umeå University, March 19.
New book chapter Sustainable Economic Growth: A Critical Assessment of Target 8.1 (with Pelle Ahlerup), chap 2 in Dellve et al (2025) Achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 8: Economic Growth and Decent Work For All, London: Routledge. (March, 2025)
Interview in podcast Our Long Walk about Paleoeconomics and other research (Feb, 2025)
Interview in EFN about German election (in Swedish) (Feb, 2025)
Interviews in Vetenskapsradion Episode 1 and Episode 2 about Göbekli Tepe and my book (Jan, 2025)
SVT interview about Nobel prize (Dec, 2024)
Hosting visit and lecture by Nobel laureate Simon Johnson in Gothenburg (Dec. 2024)
Revised working paper Conditional Persistence: Historical Disease Exposure and Government Response to COVID-19 (with Annika Lindskog) (Nov, 2024)
Personal portrait in GU Journalen
Cadasters and Economic Growth: A Long-Run Cross-Country Panel (with Michelle D'Arcy and Marina Nistotskaya) Journal of Political Economy 132(11) (replication) (Oct, 2024)
New working paper: The Political Economy of Bread and Circuses: Weather Shocks and Maya Monument Construction (with Melissa Rubio and Christian Isendahl) (Oct, 2024)
