Steinar Holden receiving the Order of St Olav is as pleasing as it is well deserved. Steinar has been a professor at the Department of Economics since the age of 32 and has published numerous scholarly works in leading international economics journals. His research has focused particularly on issues relating to the labour market, wage formation, macroeconomics, and monetary and fiscal policy. However, he does not write solely for academic colleagues in Norway and abroad, but also for younger and wider audiences. Steinar has written several textbooks, including for upper secondary schools, thereby helping to shape young people’s knowledge of and interest in economics. He is also a highly skilled and active communicator, able to explain complex economic relationships clearly and accessibly. These qualities also help to explain why Steinar is such a popular lecturer and supervisor.
Steinar has not only conducted research on issues relating to the labour market, wage formation, macroeconomics, and monetary and fiscal policy; he has also played a major role in translating his research-based expertise into practical benefits for society. In particular, his academic contributions have influenced the design of Norwegian economic policy over many years. His strong academic integrity, combined with an interest in the concrete societal implications of research, has made Steinar a frequently appointed chair and member of various public commissions, expert groups and other forums. His list of achievements is extensive, but it is worth mentioning that Steinar chaired the Kompetansebehovutvalget and has chaired a total of four commissions examining wage formation. The most recent of these, Frontfagsmodellutvalget, submitted its report in 2023. Steinar enjoys a high level of trust among key economic institutions and the social partners, and it is hardly coincidental that the Ministry of Finance, Norges Bank, LO and NHO all supported the Department of Economics’ proposal that Steinar Holden be awarded the Order of St Olav.
During the pandemic, Steinar chaired an expert group that assessed the socio-economic consequences of the extensive infection-control measures. Those of us who were part of the dean’s office at the time joked that we could have included a separate Holden chapter in the section of the Faculty’s annual report devoted to putting knowledge to use, when the pandemic struck.
The Order of St Olav is a highly prestigious distinction, and we are delighted for Steinar and the Department of Economics. However, we should not forget that when one of the Faculty’s staff receives such an honour, some of the distinction also reflects on the Faculty as a whole, and we all shine a little brighter. That is good for all of us. I encourage everyone to consider whether they have a colleague at the Faculty who might deserve to be nominated for this or other honours.
Congratulations on the Order of St Olav from the entire Faculty, Steinar!