A Swedish national, born in Addis Abeba, Carla Norrlöf has lived in Stockholm, Gaborone, New York, Paris, Geneva and Toronto. Majoring in economics (B.A.) and political science (M.A.), she graduated from Lund University (Sweden). At the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Switzerland), she specialized in political economy and received a Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures and a Ph.D degree in International Relations. Her research was supported by the Royal Swedish Academy and Handelsbankens Forskningstiftelser (Jan Wallanders and Tom Hedelius stiftelse). Adopting a game-theoretic perspective, her dissertation examined the political implications of new trade theories on multilateral cooperation.
Carla Norrlöf has published on hegemony, the international political economy of trade, monetary relations, international currencies, and security, as well as in the area of trade and the environment. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on the international political economy of trade, the international political economy of finance, international cooperation and institutions, international relations and rational choice.