Nils Karlson
Professor, Founder and former CEO
EmployeesKarlson's research in keywords: arbetsmarknadsmodeller, dygder, EU, kompetensfrågor, konstitutionell ekonomi., marknad och civilsamhälle, Politisk förändring, rättvisa, samspelet politik, statskonst
Nils Karlson is an economist and political scientist. He is the founder of the Ratio Institute in Stockholm, where he served as President and CEO for nearly two decades. Between 2018 and 2021, he was an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Linköping University, and from 2021 to 2023, a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University, Hoover Institution.
His research focuses on institutional change and the interaction between politics, markets, and civil society in Western democracies and welfare states. He has published over 30 academic books and numerous articles and reports on topics such as labor markets and wage formation, political change and liberal reform, education and skills development, growth and market processes, civic virtues, constitutional issues, the EU, and the future of welfare and healthcare systems. His current research explores populism and bureaucratic activism.
His most recent book published in English is Reviving Classical Liberalism against Populism(Palgrave MacMillan 2024). Other works include Statecraft and Liberal Reform in Advanced Democracies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), The State of State: An Inquiry Concerning the Role of Invisible Hands in Politics and Civil Society (Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1993; Transaction Press, 2002; Routledge, 2017), and Bureaucrats or Markets in Innovation Policy? (Ratio/Publit, 2019, with Sandström, C. and Wennberg, K.).