Emanuel Wittberg

Ongoing Research

I am currently involved in several major research projects:

• Ties that Bind? The interplay of politics, lobbying, and corruption in local government – A project funded by the Swedish Research Council where I am part of a research team that studies local politicians and their connections to PR firms, consulting companies and privately financed operations that receive public funding. We examine how common it is for elected officials to hold dual positions and we analyze the economic and political consequences these connections may have at the local level.
• Welfare crime – I have recently begun a research area that looks at how the public sector, and especially municipalities, can detect and prevent welfare crime. This includes work in home care services and public procurement. I also study how AI and large scale data analysis can help identify suspicious patterns and support municipalities in their efforts to stop irregularities in the welfare sector.
• FALCON (Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks) – An EU funded Horizon project carried out with researchers from fifteen countries. The aim is to develop tools that make it possible to detect and prevent corruption with the help of corruption indicators and AI.
• Local top politicians' work environment and health – A Forte funded project where I am responsible for a register based study that examines how serving as municipal executive board chair affects politicians' health over time.
• Social dumping between center and periphery – An interdisciplinary Forte funded project where I develop indicators that map the occurrence of social dumping in Swedish municipalities using data driven methods.
• Vaccine hesitancy and social networks – A project funded by the Swedish Research Council where we study how sociodemographic factors, social networks and local contexts shape people's willingness to vaccinate.

Previous Publications and Societal interaction

I combine research of high policy relevance with empirical method development and quantitative analysis. I have published in both academic journals and policy-oriented contexts on issues such as local politics, municipally owned corporations, and trust in democratic institutions. Recently, I co-authored a report for the Expert Group for Studies in Public Economics (ESO) examining the politicization of the municipal chief executive position in Swedish municipalities (2025). In addition to academic publications, I regularly participate in policy-oriented projects and have authored several popular science reports, articles, and book chapters.