Policy impact
This page contains some brief comments on the policy impact of my more applied (pro bono) work related to market and mechanism design. The main theme is the design of matching algorithms to solve real-life allocation problems.
Kidney Exchange in Sweden. I am one of the founders of the Swedish kidney exchange program. This program was launched in the fall of 2016. I was a member of the steering committee between 2015 - 2018 (the program was closed in 2019 when it was replaced by the Scandinavian program, see below). [Press release]
Kidney Exchange in Scandinavia. I am also one of the founders of STEP - Scandiatransplant Paired Kidney Exchange Program. This program currently includes Sweden, Norway, FInaland and Denmark and was launched in January 2019, and the first official exchange was conducted in November 2019. I was a member of the Scandiatransplant kidney exchange steering committee (2017 - 2020). [Pressrelease from Scandiatransplant, April 2019] [Press release from Scandiatransplant, June 2018]
Refugee Matching in the US. Together with Andrew Trapp (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), Alexander Teytelboym (University of Oxford), Alessandro Martinello (Lund University) and Narges Ahani (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) , I am part of the project Annie MOORE (Matching and Outcome Optimization for Refugee Empowerment). This is the world's first software that helps resettlement agencies to optimize their initial placement of refugees within host countries. This software has been used by the US resettlement agency HIAS since May 2018. Read more at our website. [press release in Swedish] [press release in English] [Press release from WPI] [Link to a YouTube video about Annie MOORE]
Refugee Matching in Sweden. Between 2016 to 2019, I was involved in various discussions with e.g., the Swedish Migration Agency and Statens Offentliga Utredningar (appointed and convened by the Swedish Government for the analysis of issues in anticipation of a proposed legislation), about how to better settle/relocate/allocate refugees and asylum seekers among municipalities in Sweden. A report from 2018 by the Statens Offentliga Utredningar also adviced the Swedish Government to further investigate my ideas related to algorithmic refugee matching.
School Choice. In the last few years, I have adviced more than 15 Swedish municipalities on school choice. I have also helped municipalities to implement both the DA-algorithm and the TTC-algorithm. Read more about the project at the website [in Swedish]. We have also developed a "school choice guide" for Swedish parents (available here, but currently under reconstruction).
Seminar Exchange. I have implemented a Scandinavian seminar exchange program for PhD students. In the first match run in November 2018, 10 Economics departments (from Sweden, Norway and Denmark) and 21 PhD students participated. All students was matched to some department based on an exchange algorithm I have designed. The second match run was conducted in November 2019 with 11 participating Economics departments and 23 students. [blog post from 2018]
Auctions. I adviced the Swedish railway company (Statens järnvägar) when they redesigned their online train ticket auction platform (2010 - 2011).
I have also contributed to policy reports on matching practices. A sample can be downloaded below:
Six Policy Ideas for Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic (with Erik Lindqvist, Erik Grönqvist, Hannes Malmberg, Robert Östling and Daniel Spiro), 2020 [download]
Modelling and Optimisation in European Kidney Exchange Programmes, Second Handbook of the COST Action CA15210: European Network for Collaboration on Kidney Exchange Programmes (with P Biró, P Chromy, AN Costa, E Cozzi, P Delgado, P Dworczak, P Fiaschetti, M Garcia, B Haase-Kromwijk, A Hemke, X Klimentova), 2019.
Kidney Practices in Europe, First Handbook of the COST Action CA15210: European Network for Collaboration on Kidney Exchange Programmes (with P Biró, L Burnapp, B Haase, A Hemke, R Johnson, J van de Klundert, D Manlove, et al.), 2018.
Matching Practices for Elementary Schools – Sweden, Matching in Practice Country Profile 24. [download]
During the Covid-19 pandemic, I was (still am) involved in the Swedish policy debate. Examples of my involvement:
One of the founders of the Stockholm School of Economics - Corona Economic Research Network (SSE-CERN). Visit our website here.
A white paper on policy ideas: Six Policy Ideas for Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic (with Erik Lindqvist, Erik Grönqvist, Hannes Malmberg, Robert Östling and Daniel Spiro), 2020 [download]. The policy report received much attention in media and was covered, e.g., on TV and radio, and it also inspired a policy suggestion from one of the major Swedish political parties (Moderaterna)
A short article about the economic case for largescale testing for Covid-19 can be downloaded here
Apart from practical work, I also try to be visible in the public debate (when I have something important to say). Some of my posts can be seen below (all in Swedish):
A one hour Youtube lecture on mechanism design (voting, school choice, kidney exchange, etc.) can be seen here (a one-minute preview is available here)
A 30 minute presentation on kidney exchange on Swedish Television (Kunskapskanalen) can be seen here
A one hour presentation (including a panel discussion) about refugee matching can be seen here.
A selection on op-eds on school choice can be seen here (DI), here (Ekonomistas), here (DN), here (DN) and here (SVD)
Recorded presentations and debates on school choice can be found here (Almedalen) and here (Nationalekonomiska föreningen)
Some popular science articles on kidney exchange can be seen here and here
An op-ed on organ donation can be found here (SVT)
An op-ed about why municipalities should use algorithms can be found here (Dagens samhälle)
A description of the Scandinavian "seminar exchange program" for PhD students can be read here (Ekonomistas)
A suggestion about how to improve the Swedish academic junior job market can be read here
My research has been covered extensively in media. Examples of media coverage:
TV: SVT1, SVT/Skåne, TV4, Kunskapskanalen.
Swedish radio: Vetenskapsradion, Radio Malmöhus, P1, P3, P4, TT.
Selected Swedish newspapers and magazines: Affärsvärlden, Aftonbladet, Bohusläningen, City Malmö-Lund, Corren, Dagens Industri, Dagens Medicin, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen, Folkbladet, Göteborgs Posten, Hallands nyheter, Medicin idag, Metro, Norran, Norrbottenskuriren, Smålandsposten, Svenska Dagbladet, Svensk Damtidning, Sydsvenskan, Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Skånska Dagbladet, Västmanlands Läns Tidning, Västerbotttens Kuriren.
International radio: Freakonomics, Radio Sweden.
Selected International newspapers: Financial Times, El Pais, Der Standard, DR Denmark, Frankfurter Allgemine Zeitung, Il Sore 24 Ore, The Atlantic.