Øyvind Thomassen is an Associate Professor at NHH, where he teaches Econometrics and Corporate Governance, and an International Research Associate at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He has a PhD (DPhil) and MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford. Before joining NHH in 2020, he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Seoul National University. He has been a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Economics at KU Leuven, and an Academic Visitor in the Department of Economics at the University of Oxford.
In his research, he uses data to understand firm and consumer behaviour. He has done work on the grocery retailing, automobile, and construction sectors, and on topics such as cross-category pricing, nonlinear pricing, vertical contracting, environmental taxes and antitrust market definition. His papers have been published in the American Economic Review, Econometrics Journal, and International Journal of Industrial Organization.
Department of Business and Management Science, NHH
Øyvind Thomassen: Two companies, Flikk and Flakk, produce electric car chargers and must invest NOK one billion each. Flikk's owner lives in Switzerland, Flakk's owner in Norway. Does Flakk have a disadvantage that prevents profitable growth?
Øyvind Thomassen: Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX are an extreme case, but the problem is far greater: Investors who are not afraid of being deceived should think again.
Øyvind Thomassen: It is not the level of household debt that will cause the next financial crisis.
Øyvind Thomassen: Expansive monetary policy does not provide higher prices or demand when the public does not want to loan for consumption.
Øyvind Thomassen: The central banks are involved in a poker game where they have bluffed at least since the financial crisis. And they dare not do anything but raise in each round.
Øyvind Thomassen: If house prices ever fall considerably that will lead to an economic decline. Will the government save highly leveraged homeowners?
Øyvind Thomassen: Wealth tax is not significant when it comes to financing of new projects. The exception is small firms that have to finance investments with own funds.
Øyvind Thomassen: The extremely expansive monetary policy causes that income is mainly determined by how much you already have. The risk is that the support of the market economy disintegrates.
Øyvind Thomassen: The US central bank has, since March last year, printed new dollar bills worth more than three Norwegian oil funds, money they have spent on buying securities. Has that blown up the capacity in the economy and created lasting, troublesome inflation?
Øyvind Thomassen: Investment in new business activity may just as well be made with employment income as with a company's profit.
Øyvind Thomassen: It is contractors with good ideas, good noses and power of implementation that are lacking, not the capitalists money.
Øyvind Thomassen: The Conservative Party should be the natural choice for all of us who believe in a Norwegian version of capitalism. Instead it has become the party supporting big capitalists.
