About me

My name is Stefan-Niko Tanskalainen and name evolved from Anton Niko Mäkelä. I was born in Finland and grew up between several cultural and intellectual traditions. My family background combines Finnish, Russian, Belarusian, Polish and Celtic roots, which has shaped both my perspective on history and my interest in how cultures evolve through conflict, cooperation and transformation.

This cross-cultural background naturally led me toward studying political economy, history and the structural forces that shape societies.

My academic work focuses primarily on macroeconomic systems, sovereign debt dynamics and the long-term institutional transformations that occur when economic structures reach their limits. My bachelor’s thesis examined what I describe as Finland’s emerging double-deleveraging dynamic — a macroeconomic situation where both the private sector and the public sector simultaneously face balance-sheet contraction. The research draws on the work of Ray Dalio, Richard Koo, Carmen Reinhart & Kenneth Rogoff, and Gauti Eggertsson & Paul Krugman, combining their frameworks to analyse the structural constraints faced by eurozone economies without monetary sovereignty.

Beyond macroeconomics, my writing often explores a broader theme: the intellectual consequences of living in post-imperial societies. Many modern states exist in the long shadow of historical empires. Understanding how these legacies shape institutions, cultural identity and political behaviour is essential for analysing the present and imagining stable futures.

For this reason, my work often blends multiple disciplines:

• macroeconomics

• economic history

• political philosophy

• systems thinking

• artificial intelligence and human-AI collaboration

One of the central ideas that runs through my work is that AI should function as an intellectual amplifier rather than a replacement for human reasoning. In my own research process, AI is used to stress-test ideas, synthesise complex theoretical frameworks and accelerate analytical work. The conceptual direction, however, always originates from human reasoning.

This hybrid approach reflects a broader belief: the future of knowledge work lies not in delegating thinking to machines, but in learning how to lead them intellectually.

My writing therefore moves across several interconnected themes:

• macroeconomic transformation and debt cycles

• the political economy of post-imperial states

• institutional evolution and state capacity

• the philosophy of technological change

• the future relationship between human intelligence and artificial intelligence

This website is a space where these ideas are explored openly — through essays, analytical articles and conceptual experiments that connect economics, history and technology.

The goal is simple: to examine complex systems honestly, question established assumptions, and contribute to a deeper understanding of the forces shaping the 21st century.