Etla’s long-term Research Director Niku Määttänen has been appointed Professor of Macroeconomics at Helsinki GSE. The professorship is located at the University of Helsinki. Määttänen will take up the position in August 2020.
Niku Määttänen (b. 1972), who has worked at the Finnish Institute of Economic Research since 2004, will start as Professor of Macroeconomics at Helsinki GSE in August 2020. The assignment is permanent.
Macroeconomics examines the economy as a whole and macroeconomic phenomena such as economic growth, production, unemployment, inflation, monetary and fiscal policy and economic crises. The discipline encompasses research on economic growth, business cycles and economic policy.
In recent years, Määttänen has led a research program called “Macroeconomy and Public Finance”. Määttänen recently answered e.g. Etla and VATT’s joint VN TEAS research project, which explored pressures for changes in Finnish taxation. Between 2015 and 2018, he led an international research project on the coordination of EU fiscal policies funded by EU Horizon 2020. In addition, Määttänen has done a lot of research on the Finnish pension system. He is also known as an active social debater.
Määttänen has taught macroeconomics at the University of Helsinki and Aalto University and his research in the field of macroeconomics has been published in internationally recognized scientific journals.
– Etla conducts applied research into the Finnish economy using scientifically advanced methods. There are people in Etla who have a keen interest in the Finnish economy and economic policy. Research in Etla has been the best way for me to get to know the Finnish economy and the details of Finnish tax and social security systems, for example. I believe that such knowledge will also be of great use in my future research and teaching work at the University, says Määttänen.
Aki Kangasharju, CEO of Etla, thanks Niku Määttänen for his work in Etla’s research.
– We are very proud that the University of Helsinki has selected Niku as its professor. The title also demonstrates to us how skilled and high-quality Etla’s research is. Niku’s solid expertise and, in particular, his ability to explain things understandably have been crucial to Etla. We wish Niku the best of luck as a professor, but of course we will miss his work in Etla, says Kangasharju.
The Finnish Institute of Economic Research has started the process of fulfilling the position of Research Director during the spring.
