Sinikka Parviainen

Dr. Sinikka Parviainen is a senior economist at the Bank of Finland’s Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT), where she leads analysis on the Ukrainian economy. She has over a decade of experience in applied and academic research on emerging markets, combining rigorous analysis with policy-relevant insights. At BOFIT, Dr. Parviainen specialises in monitoring economic developments in Ukraine – particularly the challenges of a war-torn economy – and provides expertise to inform policymakers on these issues. 

Dr. Parviainen’s background spans academia, international organisations, and the private sector. She earned her doctorate in Economics from Aalto University School of Business in 2019, with a dissertation examining corruption, informal practices, and foreign direct investment in emerging economies. She has published findings from this research in peer-reviewed journals, including studies on corruption and the shadow economy’s impact on investment. Her expertise also extends to household economic behaviour under wartime conditions. 

Earlier in her career, Dr. Parviainen contributed to development economics research at the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki (2015–2017), working on projects related to resource economies and poverty reduction. She also gained private-sector experience as a senior analyst focusing on Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. 

Between 2022 and 2023, she held the position of Counselor for Economic and Financial Affairs at the Embassy of Finland in Moscow, where she was responsible for monitoring Russia’s macroeconomic developments.