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Ola Olsson

Head of Department

Department of Economics
Telephone
+46 766-18 13 41
Mail
ola.olsson@economics.gu.se
Visiting address
Vasagatan 1
41124 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 640
40530 Göteborg

Professor

Department of Economics
Telephone
+46 766-18 13 41
Mail
ola.olsson@economics.gu.se
Visiting address
Vasagatan 1
41124 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 640
40530 Göteborg

About Ola Olsson

I am Professor and Head of Department of Economics at the School of Business, Economics and Law. My main research interests are economic growth, econoic history, political economy and the economics of conflict. Most of my teaching covers macro- and development economics. I regularly comment on macroeconomic and political economy issues in Swedish and international media.

On other web sites

Research areas

  • Economic growth, economic history, development economics, political economy, conflict economics

Teaching areas

  • Macroeconomics, development economics

Selected publications

Floods, Droughts, and Environmental Circumscription in Early State Development: The Case of Ancient Egypt (2025) (with Laura Mayoral) Journal of Economic Growth 30: 271-305.

Cadasters and Economic Growth: A Long-Run Cross-Country Panel (2024) (with Michelle D'Arcy and Marina Nistotskaya) (2024) Journal of Political Economy 132(11), 3785-3826.

Paleoeconomics: Climate Change and Economic Development in Prehistory, Palgrave MacMillan/Springer: Podcasts: Economic and Political History Podcast; Our Long Walk

Roman Roads to Prosperity: Persistence and Non-Persistence of Public Infrastructure (2022) (with Carl-Johan Dalgaard, Nicolai Kaarsen, and Pablo Selaya) Journal of Comparative Economics 50(4), 896-916. Media coverage: Washington Post; The Telegraph; BBC (Spanish); The Times; Daily Mail; Vox; Corriere della Serra; The NEP-HIS Blog; World Economic Forum; KRWG; NZ Herald; Göteborgs-Posten

Origins of the Sicilian Mafia: The Market for Lemons (2017) (with Arcangelo Dimico and Alessia Isopi) Journal of Economic History 77(4), 1083-1115. Media coverage: Washington Post; The Times; Daily Mail; Forbes; Belfast Telegraph; Planet Money; Cambridge Core Blog; Deccan Chronicle; LongRoomNews; The Conversation; National Public Radio (UK); PhysOrg; Market Business News

The Roots of Ethnic Diversity (2012) (with Pelle Ahlerup), Journal of Economic Growth 17(2), 71-102.

Biogeography and Long-Run Economic Development (2005) (with Douglas A. Hibbs, Jr), European Economic Review 49(4): 909-938.