Ratio is an interdisciplinary research institute, with a research focus on the conditions of business and enterprise.

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Selected publication

Absolute income mobility and the effect of parent generation inequality: An extended decomposition approach
Liss, E., Korpi, M., & Wennberg, K.
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Publications

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  • Publications

Selected publication

No evidence of counteracting policy effects on European solar power invention and diffusion
Grafström, J., & Poudineh, R.
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About

  • About us

    • About
    • Contact us

  • Media

    • News archive

  • Cooperations

    • Eli F. Heckscher Lectures

Research

  • Areas

    • Labour Market Research
    • Competitiveness Research
    • Climate and Environmental Research

  • Ongoing research

    • Working Paper Series
  • People

    • Publications

    • Publications

      • Publications

    Digital disruption: konsekvenser för företagande, individer och samhälle

    PublicationBook
    Arbetsmarknad, Christian Sandström, Digitalisering, Disruptiva innovationer, Kompetens, Kreativ förstörelse, Nils Karlson
    digital-disruption
    Download

    Abstract

    Digitaliseringen stöper om vårt samhälle och våra livsvillkor. Nya marknader skapas, andra försvinner. Nya kompetenser efterfrågas, andra blir mindre värda. Allt går i en rasande takt, i en globalt allt mer sammankopplad värld. Företagens värdeskapande är den drivande kraften i denna utveckling, men även individer och samhälle påverkas.

    Med utgångspunkt i forskning vid Ratio – Näringslivets forskningsinstitut beskriver och förklarar Christian Sandström och Nils Karlson digitaliseringens konsekvenser och möjligheter. Hur påverkas företagandet, arbetsmarknaden, jobben, kompetensbehoven och politiken? Hur kan digitaliseringens möjligheter tillvaratas?

    Sandström, C. & Karlson, N. (2017). Digital disruption: konsekvenser för företagande, individer och samhälle. Stockholm: Ratio.

    Details

    Author

    Sandström, C. & Karlson, N.

    Publication year

    2016

    Published in

    Digital disruption: konsekvenser för företagande, individer och samhälle

    Related

    Nils Karlson
    Professor, Founder and former CEO

    +46708670351

    nils.karlson@ratio.se

    Similar content

    Working Paper No. 383 Insider activism in the forest industry: An empirical public choice analysis
    Working paperPublication
    Jonas Grafström & Nils Karlson
    Download
    Publication year

    2025

    Published in

    Ratio Working Paper Series

    Abstract

    Insider activism—where bureaucrats use discretionary power to advance own ideological goals—has significant implications for regulatory stability and property rights security. Using the Swedish forestry industry as a case study, the purpose of this study is to investigate if insider activism affects the Swedish forestry sector and how such possible regulatory uncertainty influences economic decision-making. Assembled survey data suggest that forest owners perceive regulatory enforcement as unpredictable, leading to defensive actions such as premature harvesting to preempt restrictive future regulations. To explain these patterns, we apply public choice theory and a game-theoretic approach, demonstrating how bureaucratic drift, regulatory ratcheting, and time-inconsistency problems contribute to persistent distortions in forestry policies. Policy wise, the findings emphasize the need for judicial review, regulatory impact assessments, and clearer legislative mandates to reduce enforcement uncertainty and improve institutional trust. This research advances discussions on bureaucratic incentives, regulatory capture, and legal certainty in environmental policy.

    Introducing the inverted Icarus paradox in business history – Evidence from David and Goliath in the Swedish telecommunications industry 1981–1990
    Article (with peer review)Publication
    Eriksson, K.; Lakomaa, E.; Nykvist, R.; Sandström, C.
    Publication year

    2024

    Published in

    Business History, Advance online publication.

    Abstract

    Previous research in business and management history has identified the Icarus paradox, which describes how organisations may fall due to overconfidence and hubris. We build upon previous research on paradoxes in business history and introduce the notion of an inverted Icarus paradox. Using rich archival sources coded in a relational database, we show how an entrant firm, Comvik, outmanoeuvred an established government monopoly in the non-market domain from 1980 to 1990, despite inferior resources and a weak market position. The government monopoly Televerket faced an inverted Icarus paradox; it could not leverage its strengths and political connections as they were stuck in a David versus Goliath narrative where public opinion was more sympathetic to the entrant firm Comvik.

    Reviving Classical Liberalism Against Populism
    BookPublication
    Karlson, N. (2024). Reviving Classical Liberalism Against Populism. Palgrave Macmillan Cham.
    Publication year

    2024

    Published in

    Palgrave Macmillan Cham.

    Abstract

    How can we fight back against the populist threat to liberty, free markets, and the open society?

    This open access book by Nils Karlson explores the strategies used by left- and right-wing populists to make populism intelligible, recognizable, and contestable. Karlson argues that to fight back requires the revival of liberalism itself by defending and developing the liberal institutions, the liberal spirit, liberal narratives, and liberal statecraft. The book presents a synthesized explanatory model for how populists promote autocratization through the deliberate polarization of society and traces the ideational roots of the core populist ideas that form a collectivistic identity politics. Written within the tradition of political theory and institutional economics, this book uses a wide variety of sources, including results and analyses from social psychology, ethics, law, and history.

    The book is open source and can be downloaded through the link below.

    Show more