Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Swedish House of Finance?

The Swedish House of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics is Sweden’s national research center in financial economics. It hosts internationally distinguished researchers and enables financial research and development of highest quality.

The center serves as an independent platform where academia, private and public financial sector can exchange knowledge, foster new ideas and gain access to a global network of the most prominent researchers in finance.

The Swedish House of Finance is an equally private and government funded, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. It hosts approximately 70 researchers, consisting of permanent and affiliated professors as well as PhD students.

What are the objectives of the Swedish House of Finance?

Research is a part of the financial ecosystem. The ultimate goal of the center is to strengthen financial research, create impact through achieving a critical mass of world class researchers and to share positive externalities with the private, public and academic sector in Sweden.

Since the foundation of the center Sweden has risen through the ranks in the world of international financial research. Sweden attracts world-class researchers and thereby also students of the highest standard. Swedish House of Finance has put Swedish financial research on the world map.

Who is behind the center?

The Swedish House of Finance is an equally private and government funded, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

After the dotcom bubble during the late 90’s the private sector initiated a Swedish national center for financial research. After the financial crisis in 2008 the government joined the initiative. A national research center, with the mission to bring academia, private, and public sector together, was formed.

The Stockholm School of Economics provides the foundation of the center. It contributes with resources in the form of researchers and teachers. The infrastructure needed for the research, as well as its dissemination for the benefit of the non-academic sector, is contributed by the government(through Vinnova), and matched with same amounts by the private financial sector. In addition, a network of researchers in finance at the universities of Gothenburg, Lund, Stockholm, KTH, Umeå, Uppsala, and Örebro are all affiliated with the national center through programs supporting research at the highest international level.

What entails the national mandate of the Swedish House of Finance?

 The national mandate consists of five parts.

1. National PhD-program: Highest standards. Open to all Swedish universities.
2. Data center: Both international databases as well as databases on exclusive Swedish data developed by the in-house data center available to all researchers in Sweden.
3. Research: Fellowship program, publication incentives, support for travel and recruitment.
4. Infrastructure “national center”: Offices, lectures, conferences, seminars and a researcher visiting program.
5. Outreach: Seminars and conferences aimed at both academics and decision makers within the private and public financial sector.

Why do we need financial research?

Swedish House of Finance provides an independent platform for dialogue – open to everyone with an interest in finance. The center generates daily contact between academia, public and private financial sector which in turn lead to new research, new private initiatives and a basis for better decisions and meaningful regulation of the financial sector. The center is a vital part of the research and development that is necessary to continue to develop Stockholm as one of the leading financial centers in Europe, and to support the development of a strong Swedish economy and rate of innovation.

Swedish House of Finance has reached a critical mass of top-level researchers. This provides decision-makers in Stockholm access to the world’s collective expertise in finance.

The center has developed a national PhD-program in financial research, a data center with unique access to Swedish data that creates interest in empirical research about Sweden. At the same time, researchers affiliated with the center frequently publish in top-level financial research publications. The center has succeeded in attracting world-class researchers, as well as top tier students. It has built an ecosystem for research and development.