To gain a rapid estimate of how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the Swedish economy and labour market, the Riksbank has expanded its collection and compilation of high-frequency data, known as real-time indicators. The Riksbank has opened an experimental public channel, through which academics and private companies can contribute data and visualisations in real time. These indicators are used for analysis and some of them are also reported in the Monetary Policy Reports.

Swedish GDP closely follows that of our most important trading partners. In this Economic Commentary, network member Paola Di Casola and co-authors Y. Akkaya, C.-J. Belfrage and V. Corbo (Monetary Policy Department, Riksbank) discuss some of the reasons why the relationship between Sweden's and other countries’ GDP development may differ from what we have observed historically.

In a recent working paper “Projecting the potential impacts of COVID-19school closures on academic achievement ” Megan Kuhfeld, James Soland, Beth Tarasawa, Angela Johnson, Erik Ruzek, Jing Liu use previous estimates on effects of school closures and absenteeism to project the potential learning losses due to the corona pandemic in the USA.

The Riksbank has put together a database with high-frequency data about the Swedish economy. Other government agencies have taken similar initiatives.

Fler än två miljoner svenskar gick i fjol till sina jobb på kontoret. I dag jobbar den absoluta merparten av dessa hemma.

Alliances are at the core of firms’ innovation strategies. They allow firms to strengthen their innovation activities by providing access to technological knowledge developed by other firms. For this reason, alliances are particularly common in high-tech industries where the market position of firms is very dependent on their ability to introduce new and improved products and services. Often, however, alliances fail to meet expectations and do not lead to valuable outputs. It is therefore important to understand what distinguishes successful from less successful alliances.

Digitalization is changing many service industries. Nowhere is this more apparent than in standard business-to-consumer services. But also, business-to-business services are also being increasingly blended with digital technologies. Little is known about how this latter type of service is being changed by the onset of robots and artificial intelligence.

Every week, the Swedish state pumps billions in support, grants and investments to keep Sweden in the roll. How can Sweden - which for many years saved money to reduce the central government debt - now offer a gigantic bill of money? Where does all this money come from? Torbjörn Becker explains in the latest episode of SVT Aktuellt.

Exploratory research goes beyond testing existing ideas to illuminate phenomena without regard to offering a specific reason for doing so. For this reason, exploratory research is vital to entrepreneurship research where new phenomenon such as crowdfunding, social ventures, and digital business models emerge that scholars may lack existing tools to explain. Well-done exploratory research offers a great opportunity to make useful contributions to entrepreneurship scholarship.

In recent years, scholars have become increasingly interested in understanding the challenges and opportunities of building entrepreneurial family businesses from different perspectives. Most researchers in this area tend to draw on insights from the management and economics disciplines for theoretical and methodological guidance. However, other subjects, like psychology, family sciences, and history, have also been emphasized – and now even the humanities.