Priit Vahter

Priit Vahter is a Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Tartu's School of Economics and Business Administration, leading the Department of International Business and Innovation. He holds a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Nottingham (2010) and has extensive academic and professional experience, including roles at the University of Warwick, Aston University, and the Bank of Estonia. His research focuses on innovation economics, productivity determinants, foreign direct investment (FDI), and global value chains. He has supervised over 40 master's and doctoral students, contributing to impactful studies on topics like gender wage gaps, firm performance, and digital innovation.

Dr. Vahter has received prestigious awards, including the Estonian Academy of Sciences’ Mihhail Bronštein Award (2025) and the University of Tartu Badge of Distinction (2024). He actively contributes to academic governance, serving on the University’s Academic Committee and the European International Business Academy’s board. His work bridges theoretical economics with practical policy analysis, particularly in Estonia and emerging markets.

Key research interests include: analyzing how innovation impacts firm-level gender wage disparities, studying the role of multinational corporations in knowledge transfer, and leveraging web data to predict company innovativeness. His recent articles explore automation’s effect on soft skills, dynamics of abandoned innovations, and complementarities between technological and organizational innovation.

Dr. Vahter leads the research project 'Innovation Complementarities and Productivity Growth' (2020–2025), funded by the Estonian Research Council, and collaborates internationally on EU-funded studies. He has authored/co-authored over 90 publications in journals like Research Policy and Journal of International Business Studies, and regularly reviews for top-tier journals.