Curriculum Vitae

John Hassler

Job Address

Home Address

Institute for International Economic Studies

Hasselstigen 2

Stockholm University

S-125 53 Stockholm, Sweden

S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

Telephone: +46-8-647 37 31

Telephone: +46-8-162070, fax: +46-8-161443

Mobile: +46-708-117 26 3

Email: John.Hassler@iies.su.se

Homepage: http://hassler.se/

 

Date of Birth and Family Situation

September 18, 1960, married with Susanne, two children, Samuel and Emil.

Short biography

John Hassler is Professor of Economics at the Institute for International Economic Studies at Stockholm University.

 

Professor Hassler obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in 1994. He has been teaching subsequently at Stockholm University. His research has covered areas of dynamic public finance, social mobility, growth and climate change. His work has been published in American Economic Review, Econometrica, Journal of Political Economy and many other international journals.

 

He is member of the Prize Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, where he has served since December 2009 apart for one year. He was the Chairman of the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council 2013-16 and is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

 

He worked as advisor to the Swedish Ministry of Finance during the financial crisis and is a member of the Finance Minister’s Economic Council He serves as scientific advisor to several Swedish government agencies. He was member of the European Economic Advisory Group between 2008 and 2012. He has also been a member of the Bellagio group of academics and central bankers.

Current Occupation

Professor at the Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES), Stockholm University, Jan. 2005-. Deputy Director of the IIES since Jan. 2015.

Current Research

·         Global warming and long run economic growth.

·         Endogenous technical change and resource scarcity.

·         Dynamic political economy of government, in particular redistribution, social security and health.

·         Optimal taxation and social insurance.

Education 

·         Ph.D. in Economics, Majors in Public Finance and Macroeconomics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994. Title of Ph.D. Thesis, ”Effects of Variations in Risk on Demand and Measures of Business Cycle Fluctuations”.

·         Filosofie Licentiat, Stockholm University, 1993.

·         B.A. in Economics, Stockholm School of Economics, 1989.

·         Visiting MBA student at Stern Business School, New York University September-December 1987.

Affiliations and Other Functions

·         Member of the Swedish Finance Minister’s Economic Council, 2023-

·         Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA), 2020-

·         Member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), 2019-

·         Member of the board of SNS 2021-

·         Chairman SNS Economic Policy Council 2020 (SNS Konjunkturråd)

·         Member of the board of Stockholm Resilience Center, 2019-

·         Member of the board of FORES, the think tank Forum for Reforms, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability, 2020-

·         Member of the board of Stockholm Resilience Center, 2019-

·         Chair of the scientific advisory board of climate change at the seventh AP fund, 2021-.

·         Member of the scientific advisory board at the National Institute of Economic Research (Konjunkturinstitutet), 2019-.

·         Member of the scientific advisory board at the Swedish National Audit Office (Riksrevisionen), 2017-.

·         Voting member of the price committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, Dec 2009-2018 and Dec 2019-

·         Chairman of the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council, 2013-16.

·         Vice Chairman of the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council, 2011-13.

·         Member of the Bellagio group of central bankers and academics, 2011-16.

·         Member of Advisory Board at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Economics and Management International Academic Forum.

·         Member of the European Economic Advisory Group, EEAG, 2008-2012.

·         Advisor to the Swedish Ministry of Finance (October 2008-March 2009).

·         CEPR Research Fellow (International Macro and Public Policy Programmes).

·         CESifo Research Fellow.

·         Member of The Swedish Economic Council (advisory board to the Finance Ministry), 1997-2005

·         Expert to the governmental committee on deregulation evaluation, 2004-05

·         Board member of The Swedish Association of Economists (Nationalekonomiska föreningen), 2004-2012

·         President of the Economic Club, 2006-08

Papers and Articles

Published articles in refereed journals 

1.      “Finite Resources and the World Economy”, with Per Krusell and Conny Olovsson, Journal of International Economics, 136, May 2022.

2.      Suboptimal climate policy”, with Per Krusell and Conny Olovsson, Journal of the European Economic Association, 19:6, 2895-2928, December 2021

3.      Directed technical change as a response to natural-resource scarcity”, joint with Per Krusell and Conny Olovsson, Journal of Political Economy, 129:11, November, 2021.

4.      “A global CO2 price – Necessary and sufficient”, Journal of the Finnish Economic Association, 2020.

5.      “Policy design for the Anthropocene”, with Thomas Sterner (lead author) and others, Nature Sustainability, 2019.

6.      “The Consequences of Uncertainty: Climate Sensitivity and Economic Sensitivity to the Climate”, with Per Krusell and Conny Olovsson, Annual Review of Economics, 10, pp. 189—205, 2018.

7.      Impacts of climate mitigation strategies in the energy sector on global land use and carbon balance”, with Kerstin Engström, Mats Lindeskog, Stefan Olin and Ben Smith, Earth System Dynamics, 8, 773-799, 2017.

8.      "Should developing countries constrain resource-income spending? A quantitative analysis of oil income in Uganda", with Per Krusell, Abdulaziz Shifa, and Daniel Spiro, Energy Journal, 38:1, 2017

9.      “The Fossil Episode”, Appendix with Hans-Werner Sinn, Journal of Monetary Economics, 83, October 2016.

10.   ”Climate Policy, with Per Krusell and Jonas Nycander, Economic Policy, 31:87, 2016, pp. 505-58.

11.   ”Optimal taxes on fossil fuel in general equilibrium”, with Michael Golosov, Per Krusell and Aleh Tsyvinski, Econometrica, 82:1 January, 2014, pp 41-88. (Sensitivity analysis by Lint Barrage). Errata: Thanks to Lorenz Wöhler in Leipzig, we have discovered a coding error that affects Figure 8 in the paper. Here is the corrected figure and an excel sheet with the calculations.

12.  ”Economics and Climate Change: Integrated Assessment in a Multi-Region World”, with Per Krusell, Journal of the European Economic Association, 2012, vol. 10, issue 5, pages 974-1000.

13.  Oil monopoly and the climate,” with Per Krusell and Conny Olofsson, American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, May 2010, v. 100, iss. 2, pp. 460-64

14.  Unemployment Insurance Design: how to induce moving and retraining” with José V. Rodríguez Mora, European Economic Review, 52: 5, July 2008, pp. 757-791

15.  On Optimal Timing of Capital Taxation”, with Per Krusell, Kjetil Storesletten, and Fabrizio Zilibotti, Journal of Monetary Economics, 55:4, May, 2008, pp. 692-709.

16.  ”Inequality and Mobility”, with José V. Rodríguez Mora and Joseph Zeira, Journal of Economic Growth, 12:3, September, 2007, pp.235-59.

17.  Democratic Public Good Provision, with Kjetil Storesletten and Fabrizio Zilibotti, Journal of Economic Theory, vol. 133 (1), March 2007, pp. 127-151

18.  The Dynamics of Government”, with Per Krusell, Kjetil Storesletten, and Fabrizio Zilibotti, Journal of Monetary Economics, 52:7 , October 2005, pp 1331-1358.

19.  ”A Positive Theory of Geographic Mobility and Social Insurance”, with Kjetil Storesletten, José V Rodríguez Mora and Fabrizio Zilibotti, International Economic Review, 46:1, February 2005, pp 263-303.

20.  ”The Survival of the Welfare state”, with Kjetil Storesletten, José V. Rodríguez Mora and Fabrizio Zilibotti, American Economic Review, 93(1), March, 2003, pp.87-112.

21.  Dynamic Political Choice in Macroeconomics”, With Kjetil Storesletten and Fabrizio Zilibotti. Journal of the European Economic Association, April-May, 2003, 1(2-3), pp. 533-42.

22.  Uncertainty and the Timing of Automobile Purchases”, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 103(2), 2001.

23.  ”Intelligence, Social Mobility and Growth”, with José V. Rodríguez Mora, American Economic Review,90:(4), 2000. 

24.  ”Employment Turnover and the Public Allocation of Unemployment Insurance”, with José V. Rodríguez Mora, Journal of Public Economics, 73:(1), 1999. 

25.  ”Does Increased International Influence Cause Higher Stock Market Volatility”, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 101:(1), 1999.  

26.  ”International covariation in manufacturing 1975-95”, Swedish Economic Policy Review, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1997.

27.  ”Optimal Actuarial Fairness in Pension Systems - a Note”, with Assar Lindbeck, Economic Letters, 55:(2), 1997.

28.  Risk and Consumption,” Swedish Economic Policy Review, 3:(2), 1996.

29.  ”Variations in Risk and Fluctuations in Demand – a theoretical model,” Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control 20:(6-7), 1996. 

Selected other writings

·         Stability in the Balance – a Report on the Roles of Fiscal and Monetary Policy to the Expert Group on Public Economics, ESO 2022:3.

·         “Macroeconomic perspectives on the Corona crisis”, Fang, T. and Hassler, J. (Ed.) Globalization, Political Economy, Business and Society in Pandemic Times, Emerald Publishing Limited.

·          Climate Change and a Robust Global Climate Policy”, report for Fores and European Liberal Forum.

·         “Climate policy in need of plan B”, (with Christer Fuglesang), in Akcigit, U. and J. van Reenen (eds.), The Economics of Creative Destruction: New Research on Themes from Aghion and Howitt, Harvard University Press, 2023

·         “Confronting epidemics: the need for epi-econ IAMs” a report for the Swedish National Institute of Economic Research, with Timo Boppart, Karl Harmenberg, Per Krusell and Jonna Olsson, 2020.

·         “Swedish Policy for a Global Climate”, Report from SNS Economic Policy Council 2020

·         “Environmental Macroeconomics: the Case of Climate Change”, Chapter 8 in Handbook of Environmental Economics, Volume 4, 2018, with Per Krusell.

·         “Environmental Macroeconomics”, chapter 24 in Handbook of Macroeconomics, volume 2B, 2016, with Per Krusell and Anthony Smith.

·         Makroekonomi, Swedish adaptation of Blanchard’s undergraduate text in macroeconomics (with Lars Calmfors, Harry Flam and Per Krusell)

·         ”Finanspolitik, penningpolitik och sambandet dem emellan”, Ekonomisk Debatt, 4:45, 2017.

·         “Experiences from the Swedish Crisis in the 1990s – An Opportunity for a Complete Makeover”, (2015), Intereconomics, 50:5, September/October, 2015.

·         VOXEU (various co-authors), Economic policy under the pandemic: A European perspective (2020), A fix for the climate (negotiations) (2014), Pricing climate change (2012), Can Greece pull it off? (2011), A crisis mechanism for the euro: The European Stability Mechanism (2011), Why financial regulation must also rebuild trust (2010)

·         The Climate and the Economy”, Mistra-SWECIA Report No 5, (with Per Krusell).    

·         “Ugandan oil – a blessing or a curse?”, Report commissioned by the International Growth Centre at LSE and Oxford University, with Per Krusell, Abdulaziz Shifa and Daniel Spiro.

·         The EEAG Report on the European Economy 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009,  CESifo, Munich

·         "Sweden in past, current and future crises -- a report for the OECD

·         ”Unemployment, Specialization, and Collective Preferences for Social Insurance”, with Kjetil Storesletten, José V. Rodríguez Mora and Fabrizio Zilibotti, in Cohen, Piketty and Saint Paul eds., The New Economics of Inequalities, Oxford Univeristy Press, 2002, London.

·          ”The Swedish Business Cycle – Stylized facts over 130 years” (with P. Lundvik, T. Persson and P. Söderlind), in V. Bergström and A. Vredin, eds., Measuring and Interpreting Business Cycles, Clarendon Press, 1994. 

Selected working papers

·         Integrated epi-econ assessment”, with Timo Boppart, Karl Harmenberg, Per Krusell and Jonna Olsson, NBER WP  28282, 2020.

·         “On the effectiveness of climate policies,”, Conny Olovsson and Michael Reiter.

·         Energy-Saving Technical Change”, NBER WP 18456,  joint with Per Krusell and Conny Olofsson.

·         Explaining Asymmetric Price Adjustment, With Tore Ellingsen and Richard Friberg

Editorial functions

·         Editor, Globalization, Political Economy, Business and Society in Pandemic Times, Emerald Publishing (with Tony Fang), December 2021.

·         Guest editor, Economic Policy, Vol 107, July 2021 (with Per Krusell).

·         Editor, Nordic Economic Policy Review 2019: Climate Policies in the Nordics (with Lars Calmfors)-.

·         Associate editor of Macroeconomic Dynamics 2012-

·         Member of Economic Policy Panel 2008-2010

·         Associate editor of Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 2006-

·         Associate editor of European Economic Review, 2007-2009

·          Member of the Editorial Board of The Review of Economic Studies, 2004-2011

·         Member of the program committee for the EEA congresses in Berlin 1998 and Bolzano 2000, Stockholm 2003, Madrid 2004, Amsterdam 2005, Oslo 2011, Manchester 2019 and 2021 Virtual EEA-ESEM.

·         Editor of Swedish Economic Policy Review, special issue on international tax-competition, Vol 9:1, 2002 and special issue on human capital and growth, Vol. 6:2, 1999.

·         Associate Editor of Ekonomisk Debatt 1996-1997.

·          Referee for American Economic Review, B.E. Journals in Macroeconomics, Econometrica, Economica, EconomicJournal, Environmental and Resource Economics, , European Economic Review, European Journal of Political Economy, International Economic Review, Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Economic Growth, Journal of Economics, Journal of the European Economic Association, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Macroeconomics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Journal of Population Economics, Macroeconomic Dynamics, Nature Climate Change, National Science Foundation, Physical Review Letters, Review of Economic Studies, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Science Advances, Scottish Journal of Political Economy and Swedish Economic Policy Review.

o   ·   Editor of ”Thirteen papers on Unemployment” (in Swedish), published by the Swedish Labor Movement's Economic Council (Arbetarrörelsens ekonomiska råd).

EarlierEmployment

·   1994-2003 Assistant professor at the Institute for International Economic Studies.

·   1989-90 Research Assistant at the Institute for International Economic Studies.

·   1987 Research Assistant at the Research Department of The Confederation of Swedish Trade Unions. 

Teaching Experience

·   First year undergraduate macro at Stockholm University, 2003-6, 2009-13, 2015-

·   Dynamic Public Finance, Ph.D. program at Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Economics, 2006-8, 12-13

·   Modern macroeconomics for policy makers, course given at the Swedish Riksbank 2005, at the Swedish Parliament 2008 and at the Federation of Swedish Trade Unions (LO) 2012.

·   Macroeconomics II, Ph.D. program at Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Economics, 2006-8, 10,13-

·   Second year undergraduate macro at Stockholm University, 2002.

·   Non-standard preferences in macroeconomics, Ph.D. program at Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Economics, 2005-8.

·   Macroeconomics I, Ph.D. program at Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Economics, every year 1995-2000.

·   Mathematics II, Ph.D. program at Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Economics, 1994-1996, 1998-2003 and 2008.

·   Main advisor for graduated Ph.D. students Mirco Tonin (2007), Erika Färnstrand (2008), Tobias Heinrich (2009), Dario Caldara (2011), Daniel Spiro, Jinfeng Gee and Gustav Engström (2012), Yinan Li (2013), Alex Schmitt (2014), Markus Karlman (2020), Yangzhou Yuan (2023) and for Licentiate student Jens Henrikson.

·   Faculty opponent on Doctoral Theses by Tomas Lindström, Uppsala University, 1998, Sean Hove, Aarhus University, 2002, Davide Ticchi, Pompeu Fabra University, 2004, Jari Viitanen, Joensuu Univeristy, 2004, Giovanni Pica, Pompeu Fabra University, 2004, Dmytro Stoykos, Uppsala University, 2020.

·   External evaluator on Ph.D. theses by Omer Moav, Hebrew University Jerusalem, 1999, Hosny Zoabi, Hebrew University Jerusalem, 2004, David Comerford, Edinburgh University, 2013, Peter Kjær Kruse-Andersen, Copenhagen University, 2017.

·   Faculty opponent on Licentiate Theses by Henrik Schulze, Uppsala University, 1996, Jesper Hansson, Lund University, 1997.

Non-academic positions

·   1984 Member of the National Board of Conscripts (Värnpliksrådet i Sverige).

·   1981-84 President of the Swedish School Students Union (Elevorganisationen i Sverige).