PRIO congratulates Haakon Gjerløw, who has sucessfully defended his doctoral thesis in political science at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo. His thesis "Political institutions, leaders, and public spending" examines how political leaders use public investment to maintain their political power. In particular, he finds that that industrialization is accelerating under autocratic leaders, but also that countries with such governance build more skyscrapers. Democratic countries, on the other hand, provide better quality public services.

Congratulations Haakon!