Engaging with social anthropology, its holistic perspective and its methods was for me a revolutionary insight. Anthropology provides a way to take people seriously. The holistic approach and ethnographic methods anthropology uses provide completely other possibilities to address challenges-problems-questions for any organization.

Taxation. Several large research projects have provided me with a deep knowledge about the mechanisms of taxation and its societal impact. Three years was spent at the Swedish Tax Administration studying how they create knowledge to make us citizens comply paying and reporting the right tax. Ethnographic interviews with a large group of Swedes’ on how they justified purchases of informal work – svart arbete – provided to my big surprise input for the Swedish Tax Administration. In a large EU-financed project, I led a comparative study of collaborations between multinational corporations and tax administrations applying ethnographic methods. In a recent study are so-called tax lotteries in focus. Drawing on the fantastic throve of anthropological theory provides a fresh approach  to established tax research and give new insights beyond factual descriptions. I have lectured nationally and internationally for tax administrations, policy makers and tax researchers writ large. In numerous workshops for tax specialists, we have twisted and turned perspectives for understanding cntemporary challenges for tax compliance. Yet, the outset remains – to take people seriously.

The financial software industry is a fascinating market. I gathered a deep understanding for the impact and potential of digitalization when for 13 years working with installations, instructions, support and programming of software handling financial derivative instruments. Looking back from today’s digitalized society, my work seems as distant as in the era of dinosaurs. Yet the basic questions digitalisation raises for society remain the same. In a recent network initiation project, we problematised algorithms impact on various societal phenomena such as decisionmaking, ways of working, values, attitudes etc. The important follow-up question remains: how to make digitalization legitimate for individuals and for society respecting basic democratic values?

Economics. The interest of the workings of the economy has been with me from the very start. My first degree in economics was an interesting yet bewildering experience. From an anthropological perspective does research from economics usually articulate more questions than it explains. We are in dire need for more dialogue between disciplines in order to address contemporary economic challenges.