Research Focus
My research focuses on governance, control, and rule of law where the state, municipality, and private sector intersect. I study welfare, democracy, and administration from a comparative perspective, often with Swedish municipalities as object of analysis. I combine empirical analyses with the development of quantitative methods to identify, for example, corruption risks and institutional vulnerabilities.
In my doctoral dissertation Corruption Risks in a Mature Democracy (2023), I analyzed corruption risks in mature democracies using quantitative and data-driven methods. The dissertation demonstrates how corruption in welfare states often takes hidden and sophisticated forms rather than direct bribery offenses, and establishes a methodological foundation for how large-scale data can be used to understand corruption risks and variations in institutional quality.
Ongoing Research
My current research revolves around three themes: how quantitative analysis can be used to develop the welfare sector; how indicators and data analysis can be used to identify corruption risks and institutional vulnerabilities in the public sector; and the possibilities and risks that arise when digitalization and AI are used as tools for oversight and control in Swedish public administration.
I am currently involved in several major research projects:
- Ties that Bind? The interplay of politics, lobbying, and corruption in local government – A project funded by the Swedish Research Council where I am part of a research team that studies local politicians and their connections to PR firms, consulting companies and privately financed operations that receive public funding. We examine how common it is for elected officials to hold dual positions and we analyze the economic and political consequences these connections may have at the local level.
- Welfare crime – I have recently begun a research area that looks at how the public sector, and especially municipalities, can detect and prevent welfare crime. This includes work in home care services and public procurement. I also study how AI and large scale data analysis can help identify suspicious patterns and support municipalities in their efforts to stop irregularities in the welfare sector.
- FALCON (Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks) – An EU funded Horizon project carried out with researchers from fifteen countries. The aim is to develop tools that make it possible to detect and prevent corruption with the help of corruption indicators and AI.
- Local top politicians' work environment and health – A Forte funded project where I am responsible for a register based study that examines how serving as municipal executive board chair affects politicians' health over time.
- Social dumping between center and periphery – An interdisciplinary Forte funded project where I develop indicators that map the occurrence of social dumping in Swedish municipalities using data driven methods.
- Vaccine hesitancy and social networks – A project funded by the Swedish Research Council where we study how sociodemographic factors, social networks and local contexts shape people's willingness to vaccinate.
Previous Publications and Societal interaction
I combine research of high policy relevance with empirical method development and quantitative analysis. I have published in both academic journals and policy-oriented contexts on issues such as local politics, municipally owned corporations, and trust in democratic institutions. Recently, I co-authored a report for the Expert Group for Studies in Public Economics (ESO) examining the politicization of the municipal chief executive position in Swedish municipalities (2025). In addition to academic publications, I regularly participate in policy-oriented projects and have authored several popular science reports, articles, and book chapters.