NORGES HANDELSHOYSKOLE

Their core work

NHH (Norwegian School of Economics) is one of the leading business schools in Scandinavia, based in Bergen, Norway. Their H2020 research focuses on behavioral and experimental economics — particularly the economics of crime, taxation of multinational corporations, and the psychology of fairness and moral reasoning. They bring rigorous causal inference methods to questions that sit at the intersection of economics, ethics, and public policy. More recently, they are expanding into university-level innovation ecosystems and engaged research connecting social sciences to societal challenges.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

NHH's early H2020 work (2018) centered on fundamental research in behavioral and experimental economics — the psychology of crime, social interactions, and moral reasoning about fairness and inequality. By 2020-2021, the focus shifted toward applied economic policy (global corporate taxation) and institutional engagement (European university alliances, SDGs, digitalisation). The trajectory suggests a school moving from pure academic inquiry toward connecting its economic expertise to real-world policy and societal impact.

NHH is evolving from a purely fundamental-research institution toward applied policy relevance and cross-university collaboration, making them increasingly attractive for projects that need rigorous economic analysis connected to real societal challenges.

How they like to work

NHH overwhelmingly leads its own projects — 3 out of 4 H2020 projects were coordinated by them, all funded through individual excellence grants (ERC and MSCA). This reflects a principal-investigator-driven culture typical of top business schools, where senior researchers secure personal grants rather than joining large consortia. Their one participant role in ENGAGE EU suggests they are selectively open to broader collaborative frameworks when the topic aligns with institutional strategy.

NHH has worked with 8 unique partners across 7 countries, indicating broad but shallow European connections. The network is diversified geographically rather than concentrated in any single region, consistent with an institution that primarily runs its own grants rather than repeatedly partnering with the same organizations.

What sets them apart

NHH occupies a distinctive niche as a top-tier Nordic business school that combines experimental economics with deep ethical and philosophical inquiry — the FAIR project on moral reasoning is unusual for an economics department. Their strength in causal inference methods applied to crime, taxation, and fairness makes them a rare partner for projects that need both methodological rigor and interdisciplinary thinking at the economics-ethics boundary. For consortium builders, NHH brings Norwegian institutional credibility and access to Scandinavian policy networks.

Highlights from their portfolio

• FAIR
  ERC Advanced Grant worth EUR 2.5M — the largest project by far, investigating the intersection of economics and moral philosophy, an unusually interdisciplinary topic for a business school.
• CIVICS
  ERC Starting Grant applying causal inference to the economics of crime and victimization — demonstrates NHH's ability to attract competitive individual excellence funding.
• TAXGLOBAL
  Directly policy-relevant research on multinational corporate taxation and globalization — the most applied and business-facing of their H2020 portfolio.