Åsmund Weltzien
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Åsmund Weltzien is Head of Communications at NUPI. He has a major (hovedfag) in social anthropology from the University of Oslo, and has previously worked as a researcher and research leader in Telenor R&D and as a diplomat and executive officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Weltzien works to promote NUPI's research to a wide audience and to the users of our research. He is particularly committed to helping NUPI's researchers create social and scientific impact, to improve our digital communication through development and experimentation, and to build networks of professionals, users and stakeholders where knowledge and insight are shared across institutions and sectors.
In Telenor, Weltzien's own research was focused on the development of new digital technologies and how information and influence spread in social networks. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has worked with various fields such as Norwegian climate policy, security policy, and European policy. From 2011, Weltzien was part of the Foreign Ministry's "Reflex Project", which was to contribute to the development of foreign policy through public debate on central foreign policy issues.
Weltzien has been Head of Communications at NUPI since 2013.
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Clear all filtersPatterns of Trade and Foreign Direct Investment in Africa : A simple test of the new trade theory with multinationals
In this study, we present an empirical survey of the patterns of trade and FDI in Africa based on a sample of 28 countries and their transactions with the OECD countries. These patterns are used to test whether the predictions of the new trade theory with multinationals as described by Markusen and Venables (1995,1998) fit the development in Africa. The theory states that multinational production will gradually outgrow trade as countries converge in terms of income, yet our econometric study gives only week evidence supporting such a pattern. Alternative explanations are also investigated,and it is shown that trade barriers, geographical distance, income per capita and access to ocean explain much of the variation in trade and FDI in Africa.
Foreign Ownership, R&D and Technology Sourcing
This paper explores the relationship between domestic R&D and the inflow of foreign capital through foreign direct investment and foreign ownership. The idea that firms invest in a foreign country in order to more easily absorb the knowledge and technology of foreign firms is tested empirically using a unique firm level data set covering foreign ownership and R&D for all Norwegian firms over the period 1990 to 1996. The study gives no clear evidence supporting the existence of such a motive behind foreign ownership. On the other hand, the econometric study indicates that foreign investors may try to exploit their technological advantages in the Norwegian market. The results also show that the degree of foreign ownership is more volatile when firms are highly R&D intensive. We hypothesize that this is due to the fact that large R&D investments often result in large losses as well as gains to the firms.
Mot demokratisk konsolidering i Russland? En studie av politisk kultur og demokratisering i det post-sovjetiske Russland
Corruption in former USSR countries and international oil business in Azerbaijan
This research report presents an analysis of corruption in Azerbaijan. We have mainly relied on secondary sources. Since data on observed corruption are scarce and unsystematic, we had to give much emphasis on background data that have important impact on corruption levels in general and for which quantitative observations exist: The relative size of the underground economy, the rate of tax collection and the degree of poverty. We draw background data from a sample of countries that belonged to the former Soviet Union, the FSU countries. The countries chosen we consider to be the most relevant for a study of corruption in Azerbaijan, either because they are the largest among the FSU countries or because they are at similar economic level as Azerbaijan, share borders or language. Practical considerations, such as available statistics also play a role.