JM CV

Political economist · Stockholm

Jaakko
Meriläinen

Associate Professor of Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics

I study how political institutions select leaders, distribute power, and shape development—today and across history.

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Portrait of Jaakko Meriläinen
Photo: Calle Börjesson
01

About

I am interested in the nature of democratic governance—and in what history tells us about how political and economic development actually happens.

At SSE, I am affiliated with the House of Governance and Public Policy and the KAB Center for Governance.

My research is primarily empirical and sits at the intersection of political economics and economic history. I focus on political representation, electoral politics, and the political roots of economic development.

I received my PhD from the IIES at Stockholm University in 2019. Before that, I studied at the University of Helsinki, where I have been a Docent since 2023. From 2019 to 2023, I worked at ITAM in Mexico City.

In 2024, I received the SSE Corporate Partners’ Research Award. I was awarded for Excellence in Teaching in 2022 and Excellence in Undergraduate Supervision in 2023 at ITAM.

I am a first-generation university graduate, dad of Mateo and Mila, husband of Keyla, and an amateur musician.

View my full CV
02

Research

My research lies at the intersection of political economics, economic history, and applied microeconomics. I study how institutions and social change shape political behavior, public policy, and economic outcomes.

Across contemporary and historical settings, this work connects questions about political selection and representation to broader processes of conflict, institutional change, labor-market adjustment, and development. I use microeconometric methods with administrative, electoral, and archival data.

Google Scholar

Research archive

Publications and papers

Working papers

Conditionally accepted

Politicians and Daughters: A Large-Sample Preregistered Multiverse Test

with Anna Dreber Almenberg, Magnus Johannesson, and Janne Tukiainen

Journal of Politics

Work in progress

Volcanic Protests

with Matti Mitrunen, Alessandro Pizzigolotto, and Jósef Sigurdsson

Work in progress

Becoming an Elected Official Shapes Reproductive Choices

with Tuukka Saarimaa, Dawn L. Teele, and Janne Tukiainen

Work in progress

The Allocation of Talent across and within Public and Private Sectors

with Salomo Hirvonen, Terhi Maczulskij, Janne Tukiainen, and Jutta Viinikainen

Publications

2023Article

Famine, Inequality, and Conflict

Jaakko Meriläinen, Matti Mitrunen, and Tuomo Virkola

Journal of the European Economic Association 21(4), 1478–1509

Monographs, book chapters, and other publications

2019PhD thesis

Essays in Political Economics

Jaakko Meriläinen

03

Teaching

At SSE, I teach Econometrics at the master’s level and Using Data to Solve Economic and Social Problems at the bachelor’s level.

Stockholm School of Economics · Upcoming

Using Data to Solve Economic and Social Problems

BSc · Spring 2027

University of Barcelona

Political Economy of Public Policies

MSc · Spring 2024

I have supervised or examined 50–60 undergraduate and master’s theses (I have already lost count). If you teach similar courses and would find my materials useful, feel free to send me an email.

Office hours by appointment.

04

Personal

I play the kantele, a traditional string instrument from Finland.

In 2011, I won the International Kantele Competition. One of the pieces I performed is available here. It is a tango called “Tango” that I composed many years ago. My musical career has been going downhill since then, but here are some highlights from this decade:

  • In March 2023, I performed at an event organized by Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller—wife of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, then president of Mexico—in Manzanillo, Colima. You can watch the performance here.
  • The Finnish Embassy in Mexico invited my wife Keyla, who sings, and me to play at a Noche de Museos event at the museum of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 2023. Here is a recording of the event.

Recently, I started learning to paint. One of my first attempts is on the right.

Jaakko Meriläinen performing the kantele with Keyla
Photo: Vasili Papa
Painting titled Boy, your stone is flying!
Boy, your stone is flying! (2024)

Contact

Jaakko Meriläinen

Department of Economics
Stockholm School of Economics

jaakko.merilainen@hhs.se Sveavägen 65, 113 83 Stockholm Office A738