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

  • Publications
  • 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

    Ratioakademien: Frihet, trygghet, välstånd. Ett nytt samhällskontrakt.

    PublicationReports
    Företagandets villkor, Nils Karlson, Ratioakademien, Samhällskontrakt
    Frihet. Trygghet. Välstånd: Ett nytt samhällskontrakt
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    Abstract

    Det svenska samhällskontraktet är på väg att förändras. Frågan är bara till vad? Vad driver utvecklingen och vilka är alternativen? Detta är temat för denna korta skrift: Frihet, trygghet, välstånd. Ett nytt samhällskontrakt.

    Ratioakademin. (2018). Frihet, trygghet, välstånd. Ett nytt samhällskontrakt. Stockholm: Ratio.

    Om Ratioakademien

    Ratioakademien startade hösten 2015 och består av företagare och företagsledare från ett brett spektrum av branscher med erfarenhet från stora och små, noterade och onoterade, unga och mogna, företag från olika delar av Sverige.

    Akademien utgör ett kvalifcerat forum för att föra formativa samtal om hur företagandets villkor ska kunna utvecklas och förbättras, utifrån ett marknadsekonomiskt tillväxtperspektiv. Akademien står fri från organiserade intressen.

    Preses för Ratioakademien: Björn Wahlroos, ordförande Nordea. Övriga ledamöter är Rune Andersson, ordförande Mellby Gård AB, Charlotte Bohman, vd C&A Bohman Invest, Mariana Burenstam Linder, ordförande Sverige-Amerika Stiftelsen, Peje Emilsson, entreprenör och grundare av Kreab, Demoskop, Kunskapsskolan och Silver Life, Anastasia Georgiadou, vd Alminia AB, Fredrika Gullfot, vd Simris Alg, Nils Karlson, vd Ratio, Tomas von Koch, vd EQT, Dan Olofsson, ägare Danir, Biörn Riese, senior advisor Jurie, Susanne Sidén, vd Frösunda Omsorg AB, samt Fredrik Spendrup, vd Spendrups Bryggerier AB.

    Läs mer om Ratioakademien här.

    Details

    Author

    Ratioakademin.

    Publication year

    2018

    Published in

    Ratioakademien.


    Similar content

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

    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.

    Ratio Working Paper No. 353: From free competition to fair competition on the European internal market
    Working paperPublication
    Karlson, N., Herold, T. & Dalbard, K.
    Download
    Publication year

    2022

    Published in

    Ratio Working Paper

    Abstract

    This paper investigates whether an increased use and reinterpretation of what has been called “fair competition” has occurred at the expense of “free competition” among the central institutions of the European Union. We are also interested in assessing how frequently these terms have been used by the various EU institutions over time.

    We have empirically examined this through a quantitative survey of more than 12,000 public documents, out of totally 242 000 documents containing 630 million words, in the EUR-lex database over the last 50 years, from 1970 to 2020. Our conclusion is that the emphasis of the common policies in the EU is likely to have shifted from free competition and an open market economy to “fair competition” in the sense of a level playing field, in official EU documents, such as treaties, EU acts institutions, preparatory documents relating to EU directives and recommendations including motions and resolutions, case law and more.

    The European Commission has been a driving force in this development, followed closely by the European Parliament and subsequently by the Council of Ministers. This change entails a risk that the regulation of the European internal market has shifted so that the dynamics of the internal market and thus the EU’s competitiveness will weaken. The change also entails a centralization of decisions at EU level at the expense of the Member States.

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