Niklas Jakobsson, Professor in Economics

Niklas Jakobsson grew up in Edsvalla outside Karlstad. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Gothenburg University, where he would later complete his doctoral studies. He spent several years at the interdisciplinary research institute Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) in Oslo before he was hired by Karlstad University in 2012.

"These past few years, my research has mostly been centred on health care. There are so many areas that I’m curious about. Does the fee for a clinic appointment affect the number of clinic appointments made? Why does health care utilisation vary so much between regions in Sweden? Do fire-safe cigarettes reduce the number of fires? I also studied the effect terror attacks have on attitudes, as well as inequality in elderly care, the effect of marriage on well-being and income, and whether or not information can change people’s knowledge."

Niklas Jakobsson works with political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, and epidemiologists. His research has been used by politicians, civil servants, and NGOs to inform decisions and policies on health care fees, in the creation of educational material, and to spread awareness about the connection between sex work legislation and trafficking. 

"I’m actually more interested in causal links in the observational data in my research than I am in the subject or topic itself. That’s why I regularly find myself venturing into new research territory whenever I stumble over anything fascinating. I don’t want to claim that my research is important. Almost nobody’s research is. But I do think I’ve made some contributions towards knowledge gain in a number of areas, however small each individual contribution is."

Niklas Jakobsson spends his free time with his family. An injury put a stop to triathlon and running, but these activities have been replaced by the deck card game KeyForge, which he admits to being consumed by in true nerd fashion.