Affiliate
Senior Researcher (CMI)
Kolstad has a PhD from the Norwegian School of Economics, where he currently teaches business ethics.
He has managed a number of major research projects, funded by the World Bank, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norad, the Government of Malaysia, Irish Aid, and more. He has substantial experience from research in developing countries in Africa and Asia, in particular Angola, Tanzania, and Bangladesh.
His current research focuses on three topics:
- the political economy of natural resources, globalization and development;
- poverty dynamics including diversification, job creation and entrepreneurship; and
- ethics related to corruption, human rights, tax havens, corporate social responsibility, and responsible investment.
Selected publications:
Kolstad, I. and Wiig, A. (forthcoming), “Elite behaviour and citizen mobilization”, European Journal of Political Research
Kolstad, I. and Wiig, A. (2016), “Does democracy reduce corruption?”, Democratization, 23, 7, 1198-1215
Kolstad, I. and Wiig, A. (2013), “Digging in the dirt? Extractive industry FDI and corruption”, Economics of Governance, 14, 4, 369-383
Kolstad, I. (2012), “Corruption as violation of distributed ethical obligations”, Journal of Global Ethics, 8, 2-3, 239-250
Kolstad, I. and Wiig, A. (2012), “Testing The Pearl Hypothesis: Natural resources and trust”, Resources Policy, 37, 3, 358-367
Wiig, A. and Kolstad, I. (2012), “If diversification is good, why don’t countries diversify more? The political economy of diversification in resource rich countries”, Energy Policy, 40, 1, 196-203
Kolstad, I. and Wiig, A. (2012), “What determines Chinese outward FDI?”, Journal of World Business, 47, 1, 26-34
Kolstad, I. and Wiig, A. (2011), “Better the devil you know? Chinese foreign direct investment in Africa”, Journal of African Business, 12, 1Vild
Kolstad, I. and Wiig, A. (2010), “Transparency in oil-rich countries and the importance of democracy”, Exploration & Production : The Oil & Gas Review, 8, 2
Wiig, A. and Kolstad, I. (2010), “Multinational corporations and host country institutions: A case study of CSR activities in Angola”, International Business Review, 19, 2, 178-190
Kolstad, I. and Wiig, A. (2009), “It’s the rents, stupid! The political economy of the resource curse”, Energy Policy, 37, 12, 5317-5325
Kolstad, I. and Søreide, T. (2009), “Corruption in natural resource management: implications for policy makers”, Resources Policy, 34, 4, 214-226
Kolstad, I. and Wiig, A. (2009), “Is transparency the key to reducing corruption in resource rich countries?”, World Development, 37, 3, 521-532
Kolstad, I., Wiig, A. and Williams, A. (2009), “Mission improbable: Does petroleum-related aid address the resource curse?”, Energy Policy, 37, 3, 954-965
Kolstad, I. (2009), “The resource curse: Which institutions matter?”, Applied Economics Letters, 16, 4, 439-442
Kolstad, I. and Villanger, E. (2008), “Determinants of foreign direct investment in services”, European Journal of Political Economy, 24, 2, 518-533