Founded in 1962, it has become one of the leading institutions in Europe in advanced research in economics, broadly defined. The mission of the IIES condenses the three broad goals of Stockholm University at a top level: to train PhD economists, conduct cutting-edge research, and actively engage in high-level public policy discussions in Sweden and beyond. The three aims of the IIES are tightly interconnected. For the training of future PhDs and for ensuring that any policy advice is updated and based on sound empirical and theoretical grounds, an ongoing close engagement with the international research frontier is necessary. To this end, the IIES researchers themselves engage in research projects aimed at broad international impact. The PhD students based at the IIES are an integral part of its research environment. A defining feature of the PhD training, which is part of a Stockholm-wide program involving other institutions, is to encourage the students to take on ambitious and challenging questions of broad value to society. Upon graduation, IIES’s students go on to tenure-track jobs at universities worldwide or positions in government and other organizations. The list of leading Swedish decision makers with an IIES background is long. The IIES has a global aim with its research. However, its international profile is broader than that. A significant fraction of the faculty as well as PhD students, along with visiting seminar speakers and researchers, come from a wide variety of countries. The working language at the IIES is English.
