university of stockholm phd economics

PhD Programme in Economics

Our four-year programme prepares you for a career in academia as well as  for qualified positions in government ministries and agencies, international organisations and the private sector.

The department’s supervising capacity is particularly strong in labour economics, macroeconomics, political economics and public economics. We offer an intellectually stimulating and international research environment with several research seminars each week and a large flow of international guests.

Faculty and staff Publications

Meet four of our PhD students

Rinni Sharma

Raoul van Maarseveen

Davide Gandolfi

Cristina Bratu

PhD programme outline

The PhD Programme in Economics comprises 240 ECTS, of which coursework constitutes 90 ECTS and thesis work 150 ECTS.

The first year (60 ECTS) comprises the mandatory courses for PhD studies:

• Mathematical Methods (5+7.5 ECTS),
• Microeconomics (5+5+5 ECTS),
• Macroeconomics (7.5+7.5 ECTS) and
• Econometrics (7.5+5 ECTS) together with  Statistical P reliminaries (2.5 ECTS) and  Time Series Analysis (2.5 ECTS).

In addition to the mandatory courses, a large number of optional courses are available in collaboration with the Stockholm School of Economics and Stockholm University. All PhD courses are conducted in English.

To be awarded the PhD degree, the student must achieve a pass grade in all courses and must have completed a doctoral thesis that has been defended in a public disputation. The doctoral thesis consists of 3–5 articles written in journal format and a summary of the articles. These articles can be either single-authored or co-authored. 

The department provides funding for its PhD students from the first working day.

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Compulsory courses (first-year) Elective courses Syllabuses for first-year courses

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PhD studies at the Department of Economics

The Department of Economics provides post graduate studies in business studies, and economics. Doing a PhD at our Department implies getting a clear subject specialization, normally applied to the agrarian sector or environmental problems. Currently, we have about twenty PhD students.

PhD Studies at the Department of Economics

The education takes four years, ending with a doctoral degree. It is also possible to finish the post graduate studies after two years. The student then gets a licentiate degree. About half of the post graduate education is devoted to course work and half to research. After finishing the post graduate education, the doctor can for example continue doing an academic career or do a career in the industry or within authorities. Here you can find general study plan.

Generally, the Department of Economics employs post graduate students starting in the autumn every other year, but sometimes post graduate students are employed at other times of the year as well. All post graduate students get a position as a PhD student (i.e. they are employed which includes social benefits). The positions are financed either by the Department’s research budget or by external funding.

The positions are advertised at  www.slu.se , so please check that webpage regularly if you are interested in joining our team of post graduate students. Doing a PhD at our Department is a fun and challenging experience, which implies being an active part of the research units at the Department.

Recruitment and Admission

RECRUITMENT AND ADMISSION

Here you will find an overview of the admission process for doctoral students to an advertised position , and to a position that has not been advertised

Templates to be used:

• Instructions for interviews
• Letter of acknowledgement
• Admission of a new doctoral student - application from the student
• Recommendation of admission of a new doctoral student - application from the department to the faculty board
• The ISP portal for digital management of the doctoral students ISP.

More info for recruitment and admission

Milestones YEAR 1

INDIVIDUAL STUDY PLAN (ISP)

Renew your preliminary Individual Study Plan (ISP) within a period of 3 mounts via the ISP portal for digital management of doctoral students ISP. Only preliminary ISP’s need to be renewed.      

Make sure you are registered for the PhD courses   , (name, personal number, and e-mail address are needed). Coordinate with your supervisor(s). Make sure your completed PhD courses  are registered in Ladok. Coordinate with the PhD studies administrator.

TIME MANAGEMENT

Good time management is important! Activities included in doctoral courses and programmes are stated in the ISP. In addition,   the doctoral student continually registers the type and extent of both,  i) activities included in the program (a recommended template) and ii) activities that are not included in the program but conducted in parallel with the doctoral program ( SLU-approved template).  The principal supervisor and doctoral student review (at least two times/year is a suggestion) how much time has been spent on courses, research activities, other relevant information regarding teaching, sick leave etc. during the year.

SALARY AGREEMENT

Doctoral student salary agreement , level A - starting salary

Milestones YEAR 2

FOLLOW UP AND INDIVIDUAL STUDY PLAN (ISP)

Follow up of the ISP from year 1 ( 25 % of net study time) . The annual follow-up of must be carried out by the student and the supervisor at a formal meeting , and must be based on the general syllabus for the subject, an up-to-date extract from Ladok and the most recent version of the ISP. The follow-up should focus on the individual learning outcomes and the following must be assessed: How is the programme progressing? Can the programme be completed as currently planned? What action can be taken to improve the programme? What is planned for the coming year? The following two checklists can be of help: 1) checklist for the annual follow-up , and 2) checklist for discussing forms of cooperation .

New ISP  is prepared for year 2 via the ISP portal for digital management of the doctoral students ISP. The follow-up is documented in the ISP. The principal supervisor and the student sign the commitments document, after which the entire ISP is registered and filed. The commitments document is valid for a maximum of one calendar year from the date of signature.

Doctoral student salary agreement, level B. The salary increase at 25 % of the net study time requires an approved revised individual study plan.

COURSES AND THESIS PREPARATION

Make sure you are registered for the PhD courses , (name, personal number, and e-mail address are needed). Coordinate with your supervisor(s). Make sure your completed PhD courses  are registered in Ladok. Coordinate with the PhD studies administrator.

Papers in the thesis and the role of the doctoral student: Papers planned to be included in the doctoral thesis are stated in the ISP. It is recommended that the student is first author, or corresponding author, of at least two of the papers that make up their thesis. This recommendation is based on the wish to secure the possibilities for students to be involved in all steps of the publication process, and get the necessary experience of the publication process. In case if, the student does not appear as first author/corresponding author, on at least two papers in a compilations thesis, all supervisors must in writing clearly o explain why. Details can be found from the guidelines for the order of authors on papers . A compilation thesis for a degree of Doctor consist of at least three papers, and at least one of the papers must have been accepted for publication or have been published in an international scientific journal.

Milstones YEAR 3

HALF-TIME SEMINAR, FOLLOW UP AND INDIVIDUAL STUDY PLAN (ISP)

Half-time seminar: After two years' net study time, but before the midway review the doctoral student must hold a department seminar at which he/she displays sufficient ability to: orally present his/her thesis work; discuss and analyse general and specific methods in the subject area; independently discuss and analyse the results achieved. The oral presentation must be assessed by a person who has been admitted as  docent,  or possesses scientific competence considered by the faculty board to be equivalent to that required of a  docent  in the relevant subject. A supervisor or other person with a conflict of interest may not be an assessor. Conclusions and comments from the assessment must be related to the individual learning outcomes and the nature of the subject, and must be discussed with the student in conjunction with the annual follow-up. Instructions for the examiner can be found in the template: half-time seminar - instructions for the evaluator.

New ISP is prepared for year 3 via the ISP portal for digital management of the doctoral students ISP. The principal supervisor and the student sign the commitments document, after which the entire ISP is registered and filed. The commitments document is valid for a maximum of one calendar year from the date of signature.

Half-time follow up (50 % of the net time): In conjunction with the half-time follow up, the supervisor, doctoral student and a director of PhD studies discuss the updated ISP and the seminar and decide whether the general prospects of the program and the thesis are sufficiently good.  A template for half-time follow up should be used.

Doctoral student salary agreement, level C ( 50 % of net study time ). The salary increase at 50 % of the net study time requires: i) an approved half-time seminar with an external examiner, ii) an approved revised individual study plan and iii) an approved half-time follow-up.

Make sure you are registered for the PhD courses, (name, personal number, and e-mail address are needed). Coordinate with your supervisor(s). Make sure your completed PhD courses are registered in Ladok. Coordinate with the PhD studies administrator.

Papers in the thesis and the role of the doctoral student: Papers planned to be included in the doctoral thesis are stated in the ISP. It is recommended that the student is first author, or corresponding author, of at least two of the papers that make up their thesis. This recommendation is based on the wish to secure the possibilities for students to be involved in all steps of the publication process, and get the necessary experience of the publication process. In case if, the student does not appear as first author/corresponding author, on at least two papers in a compilations thesis, all supervisors must in writing clearly o explain why. More details can be found from the Guidelines for the order of authors on papers . A compilation thesis for a degree of Doctor consist of at least three papers, and at least one of the papers must have been accepted for publication or have been published in an international scientific journal.

Good time management is important! Activities included in doctoral courses and programmes are stated in the ISP. In addition,   the doctoral student continually registers the type and extent of both:  i) activities included in the program (a recommended template) and ii) activities that are not included in the program but conducted in parallel with the doctoral program ( SLU-approved template).  The principal supervisor and doctoral student review (at least two times/year is a suggestion) how much time has been spent on courses, research activities, other relevant information regarding teaching, sick leave etc. during the year.

Milestones YEAR 4

New ISP is prepared for year 4 via the ISP portal for digital management of the doctoral students ISP. The principal supervisor and the student sign the commitments document, after which the entire ISP is registered and filed. The commitments document is valid for a maximum of one calendar year from the date of signature.

Final follow up: the supervisor, doctoral student and the Director of PhD studies revise the study activities, and the realistic time plan for the remaining time of the PhD education, and decide whether the general prospects of the program and the thesis are sufficiently good. A template for the Final follow up should be used.

Doctoral student salary agreement, level D ( 75 % of net study time ). The salary increase at 75 % of the net study time requires: i) an approved revised individual study plan and ii) an approved final follow-up.  

COURSES, THESIS PREPARATION WRITING

Make sure you have completed and registered all the courses in Ladok. Coordinate with the PhD studies administrator.

Papers in the thesis and the role of the doctoral student: Papers planned to be included in the doctoral thesis are stated in the ISP. It is recommended that the student is first author, or corresponding author, of at least two of the papers that make up their thesis. This recommendation is based on the wish to secure the possibilities for students to be involved in all steps of the publication process, and get the necessary experience of the publication process. In case if, the student does not appear as first author/corresponding author, on at least two papers in a compilations thesis, all supervisors must in writing clearly explain why. Details can be found from the Guidelines for the order of authors on papers . A compilation thesis for a degree of Doctor consist of at least three papers, and at least one of the papers must have been accepted for publication or have been published in an international scientific journal. In case if these conditions are not satisfied, an external pre-examination is needed. The application must explain why the requirements need not be met. Standard template for Pre-examination minutes compilation thesis is used.

Here you can find the SLU template for doctoral thesis .

CHECK LIST BEFORE THE DISSERTAION

4-6 mounts before the dissertation (the principal supervisor) : book a time for dissertation by contacting the SLU’s Education Officer   responsible for the Department of Economics. Free time slots can be found in the calendar for public defense (NJ-faculty) . Contact the opponent, the committee members and the chair. Book a room.

3 mounts before the dissertation (the principal supervisor and the PhD student): The Application for defense of thesis and a Declaration for conflict of interest  must be submitted to the office at least 3 months before the dissertation (12 weeks for PhD students admitted before 2013). After a decision on disputes, the Office sends information to the opponent, committee, chairman, doctoral student and supervisor via e-mail. The information contains a copy of the decision as well as the student's degree and information about the dissertation act. After the decision, the supervisor is responsible for the administrator / economist of the institution receiving addresses to the opponent and the committee to prepare any travel expenses and fees.

3 weeks before the dissertation (the PhD student): Time for ”nailing” the thesis”. One example of the thesis to be sent to registry office ”registrator” and the ”library” as well as published in electronic version in Epsilon .

Dissertation day (the principal supervisor): After the public defence, one copy of the Examining committee minutes to be given to the local administrator for registration in Ladok. The original to be sent to the faculty office.

Research School: People, Society and Sustainability (PSS)

The Department of Economics and the Department of Urban and Rural Development are joined in the research school People, Society and Sustainability (PSS).

PhD courses and general study plan

Here you can find information about SLU's Doctoral student courses, Doctoral education subjects and general syllabuses.

From registration to defense

To all PhD students and supervisors (guidelines, templates, regulations). This portal lists links to more information.

Related pages:

Gordana Manevska Tasevska, Analyst Department of Economics, Applied Analysis [email protected] , 018-671724, 073 9235308

Forms and check-lists for doctoral education Instructions and templates for application for prolonged study time due to Corona Search for Doctoral courses Travel grants and stipends (scholarship) Rights and obligations in doctoral education NJ Faculty -  PhD student council - Ultuna studentkår (ULS) The ISP portal

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Complete a doctoral degree (PhD) in a dynamic, international research environment with world-class facilities and close collaboration with industry and prominent universities worldwide.

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Stockholm University vs. School of Economics

By ShehzadMA November 4, 2012 in PhD in Economics

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I am applying for PhD in Stockholm. But I would be applying to Stockholm University because I want to have a prof from IIES as my guide.

I wanted to apply to Stockholm school of economics but even though the program is a joint program, the supervisors mentioned at SSE are only from SSE and not from IIES and Stockholm university.

Somebody please correct me if I am wrong.

The PhD-program is a totally different questions. It is a joint program between Stockholm University and SSE and that means that you take the same courses the first two years at both departments. After that you get a professor from your home department as your supervisor. So therefore I would say that Stockholm University is better because of IIES, but SSE is bit better than the rest of SU. To summarize it IIES>SSE>SU. But both SU and SSE are pretty good schools for PhD!

I should also say that it isn't wise to pick either SSE or SU for PhD as safeties. Both have great reputation in Northern Europe and therefore I think it is harder to get a place there than their ranking indicates.

Thank you guys for the help. To zweistein: No I am definitely aiming for the traditional programs too (LSE, UCL, BGSE, Toulouse, Warwick) but I thought it'd be a good idea to spread the net wide. So you would not recommend Sweden at all? I'm a little confused because I seem to have heard the Swedish schools as better than the German ones. And which ones in Germany?

Oh and I'm definitely not looking to get a PhD there.

Swedish schools are not bad, not at all. If you look at scientific output per capita Sweden is much better than Germany. So I think the PhD programs produce great researchers. But the master programs in Sweden isn't so math-intensive/rigorous as some of the best masters in Europe. You start the real math training in Sweden when you start the PhD program. Therefore i would say Swedish master programs aren't suitable as preparation for a US PhD. I would only recommend a Swedish master if you are considering doing a PhD in Sweden.

I would say that the best German universities are Mannheim, Bonn and Munich. These are universities that have pretty much the same reputation as SSE/SU but they provide a better training that is useful if you're aiming for a PhD at a top school. The Germans can't really agree which one is the best. I think Bonn got the best reputation in the US because of history, but that Mannheim is coming more and more. For me it looks like the master in Mannheim is the best one since they have small classes which makes it easier to get contacts with the professors to get good LORs. Bonn admitted over 100 students to their master this year.

Maybe I should add Frankfurt (Goethe) too, especially for macro, but I haven't got any first hand information about Frankfurt so I can't say much about them. Hopefully somebody else can help?

Institute for advanced studies in Vienna should also have a good master which I have heard have good placements in the US. It could be worth looking up.

IHS | Economics and Finance

Regarding German programs:

Bonn has got the highest reputation when it comes to rigor/maths and should thus provide the best foundation for a PhD, no doubt. Munich has got some big shot profs, too, for example Dalia Marin (international macro, visiting fellow in harvard) or Klaus Schmidt (micro theory, publishes regularly in AER with Fehr). Don't know about Mannheim...

@zweistein:

How tough it is to get through SU PhD compared to other European Programs? Whats the intake and composition of class like( number of international students)?

Thank you in advance.

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The Ph.D. Program in the Department of Economics at Harvard is addressed to students of high promise who wish to prepare themselves in teaching and research in academia or for responsible positions in government, research organizations, or business enterprises. Students are expected to devote themselves full-time to their programs of study.

The program prepares students for productive and stimulating careers as economists. Courses and seminars offered by the department foster an intellectually active and stimulating environment. Each week, the department sponsors more than 15 different seminars on such topics as environmental economics, economic growth and development, monetary and fiscal policy, international economics, industrial organization, law and economics, behavioral economics, labor economics, and economic history. Top scholars from both domestic and international communities are often invited speakers at the seminars.  The Harvard community outside of the department functions as a strong and diverse resource. Students in the department are free to pursue research interests with scholars throughout the University. Faculty of the Harvard Law School, Kennedy School of Government, and Harvard Business School, for example, are available to students for consultation, instruction, and research guidance. As a member of the Harvard community, students in the department can register for courses in the various schools and have access to the enormous library resources available through the University. There are over 90 separate library units at Harvard, with the total collections of books and pamphlets numbering over 13 million.  Both the department and the wider University draw some of the brightest students from around the world, which makes for a student body that is culturally diverse and likely unequaled in the range of intellectual interests of its members. These factors combine to add an important dimension to the educational process. Students are able to learn from one another, collaborate on research projects and publications, and form bonds that are not broken by distance once the degree is completed and professional responsibilities lead them in different directions.

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SOE Graduate Student Ben Cotton Presents Research at the Maine Sustainability and Water Conference

SOE Graduate Student Ben Cotton recently presented his research on enhancing access to the coast for Maine’s commercial harvesters and the public. With Melissa Britsch (Maine Coastal Program Senior Planner, Maine’s Department of Marine Resources), Cotton gave a talk titled Understanding Use, Change, and Management Needs at Maine’s Public Waterfront Facilities at the 2024 Maine Sustainability and Water Conference. Cotton and Britsch provided an update on an ongoing coastal access research project being done in collaboration with colleagues from University of Maine (Drs. Caroline Noblet and Kathleen Bell; Walter Lange) and University of Southern Maine (Dr. Vanessa Levesque). Congratulations Ben!

Do Immigrants and Immigration Help the Economy?

With immigration dominating politics and voter concerns, BU economist’s research shows immigration boosts local wages and that having neighbors of foreign descent can reduce prejudice

Tarek Hassan, a BU College of Arts & Sciences professor of economics, has found that an influx of immigrants can energize local economies and wages—but that not everyone benefits equally.

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When Americans mark their presidential election ballots later this year, immigration will be top of mind—it’s the nation’s number one issue, according to pollster Gallup . And one of the toughest talkers on the topic is former president and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. He’s built his political career on calls to secure the border and defend America against what he says are immigration’s dangers, warning of shrinking wages and stretched benefits programs . “When you have millions of people coming in,” he recently told a crowd in Michigan , “they’re going to take your jobs.” 

Immigrants stealing work from existing residents is a well-worn contention—with a history stretching back at least 100 years right up to present-day accusations that Tyson Foods is replacing American workers with immigrant labor. But it’s also a false one, according to Boston University economist Tarek Hassan , whose recent studies have shown immigrants actually help fuel local economies by sparking innovation and driving up wages. The effects of a migrant influx can last for decades, too, enhancing a region’s attractiveness to foreign investors and opening long-term export opportunities, even 100 years later. Oftentimes, when immigrants move into an area, so do native workers, drawn by the promise of an invigorated economy. 

In one recent paper, Hassan, a BU College of Arts & Sciences professor of economics, also showed that living near people from other countries can shift native views on people of foreign descent, decreasing hostility and prejudice, while boosting empathy and knowledge. Residents who live alongside those people may also be less likely to vote for political candidates who demonize them.

But there are important details that complicate the picture—at least from an economics perspective. Hassan’s research has shown that not everyone benefits the same way from a rush of migration, and that may strike a chord with some of the millions of voters who want to stem the tide. Despite the overall positive effects to a community, the flow of new residents does nothing to boost the wages of existing workers who don’t have a high school diploma. And the education and skill level of migrants matters, too: more education equals a more positive economic effect.

“The headline finding is that immigrants are good for local economic growth and, in particular, educated migrants are doing a lot of that,” says Hassan. “At the same time, the data point to why some people might have problems with this. It’s a lopsided story where the immigration we’ve experienced in the last 40 years has been disproportionately benefiting the more educated local population. We’re trying to add some facts to the debate.”

Immigration’s Impact on Economic Growth

Hassan’s family story is one of migration—of crossing borders and navigating shifting national boundaries. “I come from a family with a rather complex migration history,” says Hassan. His father was an immigrant to Germany from Egypt, his mother a refugee from East to West Germany. Hassan was raised in Germany, but moved to the United States for graduate school and has now lived here for nearly 20 years. “You have to go back many generations to find somebody who was actually born in the same country they died in,” he says of his family. “But I think that’s true for a large chunk of the population.”

He admits he finds the national debate on immigration frustrating. “There’s very little interest in nuanced information—on both sides of the debate. There’s this view among some people that all immigration is good and should be encouraged, and there’s this other view that all immigration is terrible. There’s not much interest in listening to each other.”

With his research, he hopes to foster a more informed conversation.

In a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research , Hassan and his colleagues examined decades of US migration data to look at the impact of new arrivals on economic growth, wage levels, and innovation, which they measured through the number of new patents filed in a particular area. More new ideas, he says, generally means more new businesses and products: “We find that when you have 10,000 extra immigrants arriving in a given US county, the number of patents filed per capita in that county dramatically increases, by something like 25 percent.” It was an effect that rippled out as far as 150 miles. The research team also estimated that, since 1965, migration of foreign nationals to the US may have contributed to an additional 5 percent growth in wages. They’re currently preparing the findings for journal publication.

“More immigrants creates more economic growth,” says Hassan. “And because it creates more economic growth locally, it raises the wages of the people who are already there.”

More immigrants creates more economic growth. And because it creates more economic growth locally, it raises the wages of the people who are already there. Tarek Hassan

In an earlier paper , Hassan had looked at migration’s impact over an even longer term: 100 years or more. With an international research team, he studied how the pull of one area for migrants from the same country could help attract foreign investment to that region for years afterward.

“You can still see today that places where Germans settled within the Midwest 100 years ago are much better at attracting foreign investment from Germany than places that didn’t see that migration,” says Hassan. The same is true for communities that had a concentration of Chinese or Polish migration, for example. “Ethnic diversity in that sense is really good for the ability of local firms to conduct business abroad, to both receive and make foreign investments.”

Immigration Fears

But what about those whose wages aren’t getting an upgrade or who— to quote Trump —fear a wave of immigrants may threaten their way of life, bringing in “languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of” or “poisoning the blood of our country”?

“On average, the people who are most scared of immigration are typically the people who don’t actually live in very ethnically diverse places,” says Hassan.

In a study published in the American Economic Review in February, Hassan and his fellow researchers investigated how having neighbors of foreign descent, specifically Arab Muslims, shaped prejudices and attitudes. They surveyed more than 5,000 Americans about their contact with Arab Muslims and knowledge of Islam, and sifted through data on migration, charitable donations, implicit prejudice, and support for Trump and the so-called “Muslim ban.” Hassan and his colleagues found that living among a large Arab Muslim population decreased prejudice, reduced support for policies targeting Arab Muslims, and increased knowledge of Islam and Arab Muslims—it even resulted in people making more donations to charities supporting their neighbors’ ancestral countries.

“Long-term exposure to people with a given ethnic background makes you more informed about them, maybe makes you like them more,” says Hassan. “It also increases political support for concerns these minorities might have. It traces a lot of xenophobia to people who don’t interact with people with foreign ancestry.”

But he says his findings on which immigrants spark the biggest economic impact, and which domestic workers benefit from that boost, should perhaps prompt a discussion about where to focus immigration policies. President Joe Biden has suggested expanding access to family-based immigration , for example, but that might not be the best economic choice, according to Hassan.

“One thing to think about, particularly given our findings about the effects of high- versus low-skilled migration,” he says, “is whether it’s worth having a debate about how much of migration should be family-based versus skill-based.”

Hassan’s National Bureau of Economic Research working paper was published with Konrad Burchardi of Stockholm University, Thomas Chaney of University of Southern California, Stephen Terry of University of Michigan, and Lisa Tarquinio (CAS’11, Pardee’11, GRS’21) of Western University; the paper on migrants and foreign investment was published with Burchardi and Chaney; and the American Economic Review paper was published with Leonardo Bursztyn of University of Chicago, Chaney, and Aakaash Rao of Harvard University.

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Andrew Thurston is originally from England, but has grown to appreciate the serial comma and the Red Sox, while keeping his accent (mostly) and love of West Ham United. He joined BU in 2007, and is the editor of the University’s research news site, The Brink ; he was formerly director of alumni publications. Before joining BU, he edited consumer and business magazines, including for corporations, nonprofits, and the UK government. His work has won awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the In-House Agency Forum, Folio: , and the British Association of Communicators in Business. Andrew has a bachelor’s degree in English and related literature from the University of York. Profile

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Research seminar | Achieving racial justice one note at a time: How resourcing influences grand challenges - 10 Apr 2024

Paper title and abstract

Achieving racial justice one note at a time: How resourcing influences grand challenges

About Scott Sonenshein

Scott Sonenshein is the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University and area head of the Organizational Behavior group. He received his PhD in Management and Organizations from the University of Michigan and his M.Phil. in Management Studies from the University of Cambridge. His research employs field methodologies (primarily involving qualitative data) to explain change processes and mechanisms, including personal change, organizational and strategic change, and social change. He is a former Associate Editor at the Academy of Management Journal. His two bestselling books, Stretch and Joy at Work (co-authored with Marie Kondo), have been translated into over twenty languages. He has also written for the New York Times, Time Magazine, Fast Company, and Harvard Business Review.