Background
Torsten Persson was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Now he is married and has 3 children. Speaks English and Swedish as native languages, also has a partial command of French, Russian, German and Spanish.
Torsten Persson was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Now he is married and has 3 children. Speaks English and Swedish as native languages, also has a partial command of French, Russian, German and Spanish.
Torsten Persson is Director of the International Institute for Economic Sciences at Stockholm University, Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics, and has held visiting positions at universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and Berkeley. In 2008 was appointed as the President of the Econometric Society, and also in 2003 was President of the European Economic Association.
"Alternative transactions variables and the empirical evidence on economies–of– scale in money holdings," Economics Letters 2, 349-355, 1979
"Global effects of national stabilization policies under fixed and floating exchange rates," Scandinavian Journal of Economics 84, 165-192, 1982; also in Calmfors, L. (educated), Long–Run Effects of Short–Run Stabilization Policy (Macmillan: London)
"Is optimism good in a Keynesian economy?" Economica 50, 291-300, 1983
"Optimal subsidies to declining industries: Efficiency and equity considerations," Journal of Public Economics 22, 327-345, 1983; also (translated to Italian) in Problemi di Amministrazione Publica, Northern 3, 1984
"Real transfers in fixed exchange rate systems and the international adjustment mechanism," Journal of Monetary Economics 13, 349-369, 1984
"Time–consistent fiscal policy and government cash–flow," Journal of Monetary Economics 14, 365–374, 1984
"Misperceptions, rigidity and welfare," European Economic Review 25, 387– 399, 1984
"Current account dynamics and the terms of trade: Harberger–Laursen–Metzler two generations later," Journal of Political Economy 93, 43–65, 1985
"Inflation, interest rates, and welfare," Quarterly Journal of Economics 100, 677-695, 1985
"Deficits and intergenerational welfare in open economies," Journal of International Economics 19, 67–84, 1985
"A formulation and test of a simple model of World Bank behavior," Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv 121, 438–447, 1985
"International borrowing and time–consistent fiscal policy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics 88, 273-295. 1986; also in Bergström, V. S. Honkapohja and J. Södersten (eds.) Growth and Distribution (Basil Blackwell: Oxford), 301-323, 1986
"Time consistency of fiscal and monetary policy," Econometrica 55, 1419- 1431, 1987, (with M. Persson and L. Svensson) also in Persson, T. and G. Tabellini (eds.) Monetary and Fiscal Policy Volume I: Credibility, 389-404, 1994, (Massachusetts Institu
"Empirical examinations of the information sets of economic agents," Quarterly Journal of Economics 103, 251-259, 1988
"Credibility of macroeconomic policy: An introduction and a broad survey," European Economic Review 32, 519–532, 1988
"Checks and balances on the government budget," Helpman, E., A. Razin and E. Sadka (eds.) Economic Effects of the Government Budget, 199-214 (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press: Cambridge), 1988
"Social contracts as assets: A possible solution to the time–consistency problem," American Economic Review 78, 662-677, 1988, Monetary and Fiscal Policy Volume I: Credibility, 165-187, 1994, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press: Cambridge)
"Exchange rate policy, wage formation and credibility," European Economic Review 32, 1621–1636, 1988
"Exchange rate variability and asset trade," Journal of Monetary Economics 23, 485–509, 1989
"Why a stubborn conservative would run a deficit: Policy with time–consistent preferences," Quarterly Journal of Economics 104, 325–345, 1989, Monetary and Fiscal Policy Volume The second: Politics, 137-156, 1994, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"Regulation, financial buffer stocks and short–run adjustment: An econometric case–study of Sweden 1970–82," European Economic Review 33, 1545–1566, 1989
"Growth, distribution, and politics," European Economic Review 36, 593–602, 1992
"Growth, distribution and politics," The Political Economy of Business Cycles and Growth, 3-22, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press: Cambridge), 1992, Monetary and Fiscal Policy Volume The second: Politics, 243-262, 1994, (Massachusetts Institu
"The politics of 1992: Fiscal policy and European integration," Review of Economic Studies 59, 689-702, 1992
"Swedish business cycles 1861–1988," Journal of Monetary Economics 30, 343–371, 1992
"Signalling, wage controls and monetary disinflation policy," The Economic Journal 103, 79–97, 1993
"Designing institutions for monetary stability," Carnegie–Rochester Conference Series 39, 53–84, 1993, Monetary and Fiscal Policy Volume I: Credibility, 279- 310, 1994, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press: Cambridge)
"Options for economic and political reform in Sweden", in Economic Policy 17, 220-263, 1993
"The Swedish business cycle: Stylized facts over 130 years," FIEF Studies in Labor Markets and Economic Policy: Measuring and Interpreting Business Cycles, 9-113, (Oxford University Press: Oxford), 1994
"Representative democracy and capital taxation," Journal of Public Economics 55, 53–70, 1994
"Does centralization increase the size of government?", European Economic Review 38, 765–773, 1994
"Is inequality harmful for growth?", American Economic Review 84, 600–621, 1994
"Double–edged incentives: Institutions and policy coordination", Chapter 38 in Grossman, G. and K. Rogoff (eds.) Handbook of International Economics, Vol The third, 1995, (North–Holland: Amsterdam)
"Federal fiscal constitutions: Risk sharing and moral hazard," Econometrica 64, 623-646, 1996
"Monetary Cohabitation in Europe", American Economic Review 86, 111-116, 1996
"Federal fiscal constitutions: Risk sharing and redistribution," Journal of Political Economy 104, 979-1009, 1996
"Debt, cash flow and inflation incentives: A Swedish example," in The Debt Burden and its Consequences for Monetary Policy, 28-62 (MacMillan: London), 1998
"The theory of fiscal federalism: What does it mean for Europe?," in Siebert, H. (educated), Quo Vadis Europe?, 1997, (Juris Canoni Baccalaureus Mohr:Tübingen)
"Separation of powers and political accountability", Quarterly Journal of Economics 112 , 1163-1202, 1997
"Political economics and macroeconomic policy", Chapter 22 in Taylor, J. and M. Woodford (eds.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, Vol 1, (North-Holland: Amsterdam), 1999
"Economic policy and special interest politics," 1997 Frank Paish Lecture, Economic Journal 108, 310-327, 1998
"Towards micropolitical foundations of public finance", European Economic Review 42, 685-694, 1998
"The size and scope of government: Comparative politics with rational politicians", 1998 Alfred Marhsall Lecture, European Economic Review 43, 699-735, 1999
"Comparative politics and public finance", Journal of Political Economy 108, 1121-1161, 2000
"Political economics and public finance", in Auerbach, A. and M. Feldstein (eds.), Handbook of Public Economics, Vol The third, 2002 (North-Holland: Amsterdam)
"Currency unions and trade: How large is the treatment effect?" Economic Policy 33, 433-448, 2001
"Lobbying and legislative bargaining", Advances in Economic Analysis and Policy 1, 2001
"Do political institutions shape economic policy?" Econometrica 70, 883-905, 2002
"Do constitiutions cause large governments? Quasi-experimental evidence?" European Economic Review 46, 908-918, 2002
"Markets with asymmetric information: The contributions of George Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz" Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 104 195-211, 2002
"Electoral rules and corruption", Journal of the European Economic Association 1, 958-989, 2003
"Constitutional rules and fiscal policy outcomes?", American Economic Review 94, 25-46, 2004
"Constitutions and economic policy", Journal of Economic Perspectives 18, 75-98, 2004
"Consequences of constitutions", Journal of the European Economic Association 2, 139-161, 2004
"Electoral systems and economic policy", in Weingast, B. and D. Wittman, (eds.), Handbook of Political Economy (Oxford), 2006
"Time consistency of fiscal and monetary policy: A solution", Econometrica 74, 193-212, 2006
"Democracy and development: The devil in the details", American Economic Review 96, Papers and Proceedings, 319-324, 2006
"Political institutions, economic approaches to", in Durlauf, S. and L. Blume (eds.), New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition, McMillan
"Electoral rules and government spending in parliamentary democracies", Quarterly Journal of Political Science 2, 155-188, 2007
"Wars and state capacity", Journal of the European Economic Association 6, 522-530, 2008
"The growth effects of democracy: Is it heterogenous and how can it be estimated?", in Helpman, E. (educated), Institutions and Economic Performance, Harvard University Press, 2008
"The origins of state capacity: Property rights, taxation and politics", American Economic Review 99, 1218-1244, 2009
"Repression or Civil War?”, American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 99, 292-297, 2009
"Democratic capital: The nexus of political and economic change", American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 1, 88-126, 2009
"State capacity, conflict and development", Econometrica 78, 1-34, 2010
"Political competition, policy and growth: Theory and evidence from the United States", Review of Economic Studies 77, 1329-1352, 2010
"The logic of political violence", forthcoming in Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2009
"Fragile states and development policy", forthcoming in Journal of the European Economic Association
"Dagens underskott – bördor på morgondagens generationer?" (Today’s deficits – a burden on future generations?), in Ut ur krisen? report from the SNS–policy group, 21-32, 1982–83
"Budgetunderskott på 100 miljarder – något att oroa sig för?" (Deficits of 100 billion – something to worry about?), Ekonomisk Debatt, 24-32, 1983 also in Ekonomi under Debatt: Stabiliseringspolitik, 64-72, 1989
"Underskottsproblem och välfärd" (Deficit problems and welfare), Nordisk Okonomisk Forskningsrads Arsbok, 1983
"Budgetunderskott, utlandsupplåning och framtida konsumtionsmöjligheter" (Budget deficits, foreign borrowing and future consumption), Report to the Swedish Treasury, 1984
"Nya metoder i långtidsutredningen" (New methods in the medium–term survey), Ekonomisk Debatt, 373-380, 1987, (with L. Svensson) also in Ekonomi under Debatt: Struktur och tillväxt, 131-138, 1991
"Konjunkturprognoser: När, var, hur?" (Business cycle forecasts: When, where and how?) in Konjunktur och prognos, Ekonomiska Rådets Årsbok 1988 (Nordstedts: Stockholm), 11-23, 1989
"Stabiliseringspolitikens möjligheter: En instabil historia" (The scope for stabilization policy: An unstable history) Inflation, arbetslöshet och stabiliseringspolitik, Ekonomiska Rådets Årsbok 1989, 71-85, (Nordstedts: Stockholm), 1990
"Centralbankens ställning: Teori, erfarenheter och slutsatser för Sverige" (Central banking institutions: Theory, evidence and conclusions for Sweden), Report by the Government Commission on Central Banking Issues, (Nordstedts: Stockholm), 225-253, 1993
"Trovärdig och politiskt möjlig ekonomisk politik," (Credible and politically feasible economic policy), in Siven, C–H. (educated) 22 Ekonomiska Essäer (22 Essays on Economics), 223-232, (SNS: Stockholm)
"Ekonomipriset till spelteoretiker" (Prize to game theorists) in Ekonomisk Debatt 8, 809-814, 1994
"Kan man inflatera bort budgetunderskottet?" (Can the budget deficit be inflated away?) in Ekonomisk Politik: En vänbok till Assar Lindbeck (SNS: Stockholm), 251-287, 1995
"Ekonomisk politik och politisk ekonomi" (Economic policy and political economy) Ekonomisk Debatt 1, 19-26, 1996
"1997 års ekonomipristagare: Robert C. Merton and Myron S. Scholes" (Nobel laureates in 1997: Robert C. Merton and Myron S. Scholes) in Ekonomisk Debatt 2, 117-122, 1998
"Marknader med asymmetrisk information" (Markets with assymmetric information) in Ekonomisk Debatt 8, 527-534, 2001
"Pionjärer inom psykologisk och experimentell ekonomi" (Pioneers in psychological and experimental economics) in Ekonomisk Debatt 1, 7-14, 2003
"Statistiska metoder för ekonomiska tidsserier" (Statistical methods for economic time-series) in Ekonomisk Debatt 8, 5-15, 2003
"Konjunkturer och ekonomisk politik" (Business cycles and economic policy) in Ekonomisk Debatt 8, 7-23, 2004
in Calvo, G., R. Dornbusch and M. Obstfeld (eds) Money, Capital Mobility and Trade (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press: Cambridge), 2000
Buiter, W., "A guide to public sector debt and deficits," Economic Policy 1, 61-64, 1985
King, M., "Capital market imperfections and the consumption function," Scandinavian Journal of Economics 88, 81-83, 1986; also in: Bergström, V., S. Honkapohja and J. Södersten (eds.) Growth and Distribution 81-83, (Basil Blackwell: Oxford), 1986
Dreze, J., "Work sharing: Why, how, and how not." Economic Policy 3, 602-605, 1986
Casella, A. and J. Feinstein "Management of a common currency," in de Cecco, M. and A. Giovannini (eds.) A European Central Bank?, 387-392, (Cambridge University Press: London), 1989
Galli, G. and R. Masera "Fiscal responsibility, monetary policy and the exchange rate," in McKenzie, L. and S. Zamagni (eds.) Value and Capital 50 Years Later, (MacMillan: London) 1991
Malinvaud, E. "Macroeconomic tradeoffs of price and incomes policies," Scandinavian Journal of Economics 92, 349-351, 1990; Unemployment and Wage Determination in Europe, 219-221, (Basil Blackwell: Oxford), 1990
Casella, A. "Voting on the adoption of a common currency," in Canzoneri, M., V. Grilli, and P. Masson (eds.), Establishing a Central Bank: Issues in Europe and Lessons From the United States, 184-191, (Cambridge University Press: London), 1992
Alesina, A. and R. Perotti, "The Politics of Growth: A Survey", in Bergström, V. (educated), Government and Growth, FIEF Studies in Labor Markets and Economic Policy, (Oxford University Press: Oxford), 1997
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M. Gavin and R. Perotti, "Fiscal policy in Latin America", in Bernanke, B. and J. Rotemberg, (eds), 1997 NBER Macroeoconmics Annua
Studies of Alternative Exchange Rate Systems: An Intertemporal General Equilibrium Approach (Monograph Northern 13. Institute for International Economics Studies: Stockholm), 1982
New Methods in the Swedish Medium–Term Survey (Allmänna förlaget: Stockholm), 1987
Inflation, arbetslöshet och stabiliseringspolitik (Inflation, Unemployment and Stablilization Policy), editor (Nordstedts: Stockholm), 1990
Macroeconomic Policy, Credibility and Politics (Harwood Academic Publishers: Chur, London, Paris, New York), 1990. Also in Italian, Politica Macroeconomia: Le Nuove Teorie (La Nuova Italia Scientifica: Rome), 1996
The Swedish Business Cycle: Stylized Facts Over 130 Years (Monograph Northern 22 Institute for International Economic Studies: Stockholm), 1992
Nya villkor för ekonomi och politik, SOU 1993: 16 (New Conditions for Economics and Politics), Report of the Government’s Commission on Economic Policy, (Nordstedts: Stockholm), 1993
Monetary and Fiscal Policy, Volume I: Credibility, Volume The second: Politics, editor, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press: Cambridge), 1994
Turning Sweden Around (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press: Cambridge), 1994
Flexible integration: Towards a more effective and democratic Europe (CEPR: London), 1995
Nobel Lectures Economic Sciences 1991-1995, editor, (World Scientific: Singapore), 1997
European Union:s framtida struktur: En gemensam grund och öppna partnerskap (SNS Förlag: Stockholm), 2000
Politisk Makt med Oklart Ansvar (Political Power and Unclear Accountability), (SNS Förlag: Stockholm), 2000
One Money, Many Countries, (CEPR: London), 2000
Political Economics: Explaining Economics Policy, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press: Cambridge), 2000
The Economic Effect of Constitutions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press: Cambridge, August 2003
Nobel Lectures: Economic Sciences 1996-2000, editor, 2003 (World Scientific Publishing: Singapore)
Advances in Economics and Econometrics, editor, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, August 2006
Pillars of Prosperity, 2010 Yrjö Jahnsson Lectures, Princeton University Press, August 2011
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