Max Jerneck wrote his Ph.D. in sociology at Lund university about the historical development of the solar industry in the US and Japan. The aim was to explain why the US, with an initial lead, fell behind Japan.

"In the late 1970s, American firms produced 90 percent of the world's solar cells, a share that declined to 9 percent in 2005, while Japanese firms produced 50 percent.  I found that corporate organization was a major factor. As subsidiaries of large conglomerates, American solar producers fell victim to the 1980s corporate takeover wave, while no such upheaval occured in Japan", says Max.

He has since continued to study the development of solar energy in China. He would like to continue to follow the trajectory of the global solar energy industry to its current center in China, and apply a framework inspired by, but partly opposed to, János Kornai. The late Hungarian economist is known for his analysis and criticism of the planned economy.

"I would also like to study the Swedish solar energy industry in detail", he says. "It's very small but advanced. Research is strong but there seem to be barriers translating that strength into large scale manufacturing".

Immigrant integration also of interest

At the moment however, Max is investigating another exciting topic which will interesting so see the outcome of: the integration of immigrants in the Swedish hospitality industry.

"This research has led me to study fundamental issues about the Swedish welfare state and labor market, such as the question of why Sweden abandoned full employment in the 1990s. I am looking forward to see what I will discover within this field during the coming years", says Max.