Successful thesis defense for Mattias Folkestad

On Wednesday June 10, IIES graduate student Mattias Folkestad successfully defended his doctoral thesis, "Power and Politics: Essays in Applied Microeconomics."

Mattias shows that early institutional changes can have long-lasting effects on both economic and political outcomes. Studying the introduction of female teachers in late 19th century Sweden, he finds that exposure to female role models increased women’s participation in the labor market and the suffrage movement, highlighting how representation can accelerate social and political change.

He also examines the role of local decision-making in the green transition. Focusing on wind power, he shows that giving municipalities veto power protects local residents from costs but leads to less efficient placement of projects and shifts burdens to neighboring areas, revealing a trade-off between local fairness and overall efficiency.

Mattias further demonstrates that early political participation strongly shapes future engagement. Individuals with prior experience are significantly more likely to run for office and be elected, underscoring how access and timing influence who becomes politically active.

Finally, his work evaluates education policy, showing that increased school resources can improve outcomes for disadvantaged students—particularly immigrant boys—even when average effects are limited. This suggests that targeted investments can reduce inequality in outcomes.

Overall, his thesis highlights how power, institutions, and policy design interact to determine who participates, who benefits, and who bears the costs of economic and political decisions.

Mattias is next off to the Department of Economics at University of Gothenburg as a Wallander PostDoc.

Olle Folke, Uppsala University, kindly acted as opponent.

Read more about Mattias's thesis