Professor of Economics, Aalto Distinguished Professor
Research interests: Industrial organization, competition, innovation, regulation.
CV
Otto Toivanen is a professor in the Department of Economics at Aalto University School of Business, the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics (Helsinki GSE), and Aalto Distinguished Professor. He obtained his PhD from the University of Warwick. Otto was the Academic Director of Helsinki GSE from its foundation in 2018 until 2025. He played a central role in establishing the Helsinki GSE Situation Room when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Finland. The Situation Room provided regular analyses of the Finnish economy using very up-to-date data, both for the Finnish government and the public at large, and was transformed into the VATT Institute for Economic Research Data Room. Before his current position he was a professor at KU Leuven. He has also been the director of HECER, has held positions at the University of Warwick and Helsinki School of Economics, and has been a visiting scholar at MIT, NBER, and the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently an associate editor of the International Journal of Industrial Organization and the Journal of the European Economic Association, a research fellow of CEPR, Etla, MaCCI, and ZEW. He has been a member of the executive committee of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics, a board member of the Association of Competition Economics, and an associate editor of the Journal of Industrial Economics. He holds or has held several positions of trust, e.g., membership of the Economic Council of the Finnish Ministry of Finance, chair of the scientific council of VATT Institute of Economic Research, and membership of the Economic Advisory Group for Competition Policy in DG Competition of the European Union. He has acted as a consultant for private sector firms and for public sector agencies such as the European Commission and the Finnish government.
Competition or collusion? Entry decisions in the Swedish pharmaceutical market (2026), with Hung Le. CEPR DP21676.
Free entry and social inefficiency in regulated pharmacy markets (2025), with Antto Jokelainen, Jaakko Markkanen, Samuli Leppälä, Markku Siikanen and Matti Sipiläinen. CEPR DP20095.
The incentive and welfare effects of the European Unitary Patent (2024). with Alexis Stevenson and Tuomas Takalo.
The effects of price regulation on pharmaceutical expenditure and availability (2023), with Mika Kortelainen, Jaakko Markkanen and Markku Siikanen. CEPR DP18947.
Welfare effects of R&D support policies (2026). with Tuomas Takalo and Tanja Wahlberg. RAND Journal of Economics, forthcoming.
Research, development and innovation aid, IPCEI (2025). with Jan Bonhage. In EU State Aid Control: Law and Economic, 2nd Edition . P. Werner and V. Verhouden (eds.), with permission of Kluwer Law International.
A year older, a year wiser (and farther from frontier): Invention rents and human capital depreciation (2024). with Philippe Aghion, Ufuk Akcigit and Ari Hyytinen. Review of Economics and Statistics, 106, 4, 974-984.
Online Appendix.
Inequality and creative destruction (2023). with Richard Blundell and Xavier Jaravel. In Economics of Creative Destruction: New Research on Themes from Aghion and Howitt., eds. U. Akcigit and J. van Reenen, Harvard University Press. Parental education and invention: The Finnish enigma (2023). with Philippe Aghion, Ufuk Akcigit and Ari Hyytinen. International Economic Review, 64, 2, 453-490.
See also older working paper: The social origins and IQ of inventors (2017).
Harvard Business Review.
Project Syndicate.
VoxEU.
The Economist. From conference submission to publication and citations: Evidence from the EARIE conference (2022). with Yossi Spiegel. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 84.
Ex-post analysis of the TeliaSonera-Chess 2005 merger (2021). with Norman Maier, Julie Runge Jørgensen and Asger Lunde. De Economist, 169, 2, 141-178.
Heritability of lifetime earnings (2019). with Ari Hyytinen, Pekka Ilmakunnas and Edvard Johansson. Journal of Economic Inequality, 17, 319-335.
An anatomy of cartel contracts (2019). with Ari Hyytinen and Frode Steen. Economic Journal, 129, 621, 2155–2191.
Coding manual (2007).
Online Appendix.
VoxEU. Cartels uncovered (2018). with Ari Hyytinen and Frode Steen.
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 10(4), 190-222.
Online Appendix.
VoxEU. When does Regression discontinuity design work? Evidence from random election outcomes (2018). with Ari Hyytinen, Jaakko Meriläinen, Tuukka Saarimaa and Janne Tukiainen.
Quantitative Economics, 9(2), July 2018.
Online Appendix. Design of public procurement auctions: Evidence from cleaning contracts (2018). with Ari Hyytinen and Sofia Lundberg.
RAND Journal of Economics, 49(2), 398-426. On the returns to invention within firms: Evidence from Finland (2018). with Philippe Aghion, Ufuk Akcigit and Ari Hyytinen. American Economic Association, Papers&Proceedings, 108, 208-212. Public employees as politicians: Evidence from close elections (2018). with Ari Hyytinen, Jaakko Meriläinen, Tuukka Saarimaa and Janne Tukiainen.
American Political Science Review, 112(1), 68-81.
Online Appendix. Education and invention (2016). with Lotta Väänänen.
Review of Economics and Statistics, 98(2), 382-396.
Online Appendix.
VoxEU.
Economics of innovation policy (2015). with Tuomas Takalo.
Nordic Economic Policy Review, 2, 65-90.
Problems in launching the mobile internet: Evidence from a pricing experiment (2014). with Maija Gao and Ari Hyytinen.
Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 23(3), 483-506.
Online Appendix.
Market failures and the additionality effects of public support to private R&D: Theory and empirical implications (2013). with Tuomas Takalo and Tanja Tanayama.
International Journal of Industrial Organization, 31, 634-642.
Estimating the benefits of targeted R&D subsidies (2013). with Tuomas Takalo and Tanja Tanayama.
Review of Economics and Statistics, 95(1), 255-272.
Online Appendix.
The return-to-entrepreneurship puzzle (2013). with Ari Hyytinen and Pekka Ilmakunnas.
Labour Economics, 20, 57-67.
Returns to inventors (2012). with Lotta Väänänen.
Review of Economics and Statistics, 94(4), 1173-1190.
Entrepreneurship, financiership, and selection (2012). with Tuomas Takalo.
Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 114(2), 601-628.
Income inequality and technology diffusion: Evidence from developing countries (2011). with Ari Hyytinen.
Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 113(2), 364-387.
Market structure and entry: Where’s the beef? (2005). with Michael Waterson.
RAND Journal of Economics, 36(3), 680-699.
Do financial constraints hold back innovation and growth? Evidence on the role of public policy (2005). with Ari Hyytinen.
Research Policy, 34(9), 1385-1403.
Intergenerational effects in the diffusion of new technology: The case of mobile phones (2004). with Jukka Liikanen and Paul Stoneman.
International Journal of Industrial Organization, 22(8-9), 1137-1154.
Monitoring and market power in credit markets (2004). with Ari Hyytinen.
International Journal of Industrial Organization, 22(2), 269-288.
Vertical differentiation, asymmetric information and endogenous bank screening (2004). with Ari Hyytinen.
B.E Journals in Economics: Topics in Theoretical Economics, 4(1).
Asymmetric information and the market structure in the venture capital industry (2003). with Ari Hyytinen.
Journal of Financial Services Research, 23(3), 241-249.
Innovation and the market value of UK firms, 1989-1995 (2002). with Derek Bosworth and Paul Stoneman.
Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 22(2), 269-288.
Is there adverse selection in the credit market? (2001). with Robert Cressy.
Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, 3(3), 215-238.
The impact of revised recommended accounting practices on R&D reporting by UK firms (2001). with Paul Stoneman.
International Journal of the Economics of Business, 8(1), 123-136.
Empirical research on discrete choice game-theoretic models of entry: An illustration (2000). with Michael Waterson.
European Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 44(4-6), 985-992.
Dynamics of R&D and investment: UK evidence (2000). with Paul Stoneman.
Economics Letters, 58, 119-126.
Economies of scale and scope in the Finnish non-life insurance industry (1997).
Journal of Banking and Finance, 21, 759-779.
Economics of Innovation (MSc), PhD IO I and II.
Email: otto.toivanen@aalto.fi
Aalto University School of Business
Ekonominaukio 1, 02150 Espoo, Finland
Mailing address: P.O. Box 21210, FI-00076 Aalto