Torsten Persson

Torsten Persson holds the Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg Chair in Economic Sciences at the IIES of Stockholm University. He is also a Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics, and has held visiting positions at leading universities as Harvard, Princeton and Berkeley. Persson is a Research Associate of the CEPR and the NBER and a member of CIFAR’s program of Institutions, Organizations and Growth. He is a member of several Academies, including the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, the British Academy, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Persson was elected President of the Econometric Society (in 2008), and President of the European Economic Association (in 2003).

His scientific distinctions include the 1997 Yrjö Jahnsson Medal, given biannually to “the best young economist in Europe”, and Honorary Doctorates at Aalto University and the University of Mannheim. Persson’s scientific work has spanned different areas, but he is most well-known for his articles and books on political economics, including Political Economics (with G.Tabellini), The Economic Effects of Constitutions (with G. Tabellini), and Pillars of Prosperity: The Political economics of Development Clusters (with T. Besley). His current research focuses on development, political violence, and climate change.