Richard Karlsson Linnér is an assistant professor at the Department of Economics at Leiden University.

More information about Richard Karlsson Linnér

Richard is an economist specialised in social-science genetics. His research investigates how genetic variants give rise to the heritability of traits like risk taking, educational attainment, or impulsivity, and then how these genetic propensities lead to adverse health and health inequalities over the lifespan. A beneficial by-product of his research is that the results can be leveraged in genetic research designs to strengthen statistical and causal inference for other research questions, e.g. when conducting policy evaluation or economic experiments. One of his particular interests is understanding the genetic contributions to preventable health-risk behaviours for which the socioeconomic environment also plays a major role (e.g. smoking or substance use). His recent work investigates economic consequences of genomic medicine and consumer genetic testing for various markets (e.g. those for healthcare or insurance).

Richard holds an M.Sc. in Economics from Linköping University, Sweden. In 2019, he was awarded a PhD in Social-Science Genetics by the Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR) at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Before his appointment as assistant professor at the Department of Economics of Leiden University, he worked as postdoctoral fellow for three years, which included a role as visiting researcher at Geisinger, a US-based health-care system with a spearhead genetic research programme. In 2018, Richard and Professor Philipp Koellinger were jointly awarded a topicality grant by the Dutch academic network Netspar to study the economic consequences of genetic testing for insurance and retirement.

Teaching

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• Principles of economics / BBO & BSK
• MA theses MPA

Publications