Hedda Thorell

Hi! I'm Hedda Thorell, a fourth year PhD student at the Department of Economics at Stockholm University. My research interests lie in the area of applied macroeconomics, household finance and macro finance. I am particularly interested in questions concerning the effects of monetary policy.

I also have experience from different policy institutions; including the International Monetary Fund, the National Institute for Economic Research (NIER) and Sveriges Riksbank. I am also a 2026 Lamfalussy Fellow.

You can find my CV here.

E-mail: hedda.thorell@su.se

Research

Quantitative Easing and Portfolio Rebalancing: Evidence from a Small Open Economy
Draft available upon request

Who sells to the central bank during QE, and how are the proceeds reinvested? I study the Riksbank's covered bonds purchasing programme during the Covid pandemic, exploiting short-run deviations in the Riksbank's allocation principle to construct unexpected purchases and estimate effects on yields and portfolio rebalancing. I find that purchases lowered yields and that domestic sellers rebalance into government bonds. Foreign investors, however, do not rebalance within the Swedish bond market. Instead, their selling is mirrored by a decline in repo positions, suggesting repayment of loan financing rather than capital outflows.

The Macroeconomic Consequences of Undermining Central Bank Independence: Evidence from Governor Transitions
Joint with Marijn A. Bolhuis (IMF) and Rui C. Mano (IMF)
IMF Working Paper No. 2026/040
Coverage: World Economic Outlook, October 2025, BOX 2.3, VoxEU.

Monetary Policy and Car Consumption
Joint with Jesper Böjeryd (Stockholm University) and Roine Vestman (Stockholm University)
Work in progress

Geopolitical Risk and Firm Financing
Joint with Märta Almgren (Stockholm University), Mathias Klein (Sveriges Riksbank) and Valentin Schubert (Sveriges Riksbank)
Work in progress

News-Driven Fluctuations and Monetary Policy Transmission
Joint with Gökhan Ider (Free University and DIW Berlin)
ECB Lamfalussy Research Fellowship 2026

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