My life in crisis: What have I learned about economic policy in the last 50 years?

This paper is a translation of a talk given by Lars Jonung at the conference held in his honor at his 70th birthday in Lund on October 3-4, 2014. A few additions and updates have been made to the original talk. He came to Lund to study economics in the autumn of 1965. Both the city and the subject of economics have captivated him ever since. His research covers many areas of economic policy, primarily monetary and fiscal policy. He has a keen interest in the development of economics in Sweden, especially in Knut Wicksell and the members of the Stockholm School. He has participated extensively in Swedish public debate since the 1970s. He has been involved as an advisor both in Stockholm and in Brussels. After ten years at the European Commission as research advisor, he returned to Sweden to serve as chairman of the Fiscal Policy Council 2012-13 and as a senior professor at the Department of Economics at Lund University. He left this position when he turned 70 in the autumn of 2014, becoming professor emeritus