The Swedish National Audit Office evaluates using KTH’s method

The COVID-19 pandemic was a challenging time for many businesses. To support fundamentally viable companies facing temporary liquidity issues, the Swedish government allowed businesses to defer tax payments. Now, the Swedish National Audit Office has assessed whether this measure was effective.

To conduct their evaluation, they used a method co-developed by KTH researcher Christian Thomann , based on the effects of Sweden’s 2009 tax deferral program.

What did they conclude, and what does it mean for your research, Christian?

-The conclusions in the National Audit Office’s report largely align with our study’s findings—that tax deferrals primarily benefited businesses with limited access to liquidity, helping them stabilize in the short term. This serves as a validation of our previous research. It also highlights the crucial role of economic research in shaping real-world policy decisions.”

Link to the study: Government Lending in a Crisis , Brown (Texas A&M), Martinsson (Stockholm U), and Thomann (KTH) (2021)