Arnljot Ole Strømme Svendsen (born 5 December 1921) is a Norwegian economist and politician for the Conservative Party.
He was born in Kristiania as the son of Ole A. Strømme Svendsen (1883–1975) and Dagmar Bærem (1886–1976). He finished his secondary education in 1941 and took the cand.oecon. degree in 1946. In 1948 he was hired as a research fellow at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. He was promoted to docent in 1956 and professor in 1966. He managed Samfunnsøkonomisk Institutt from 1957 to 1967 and the Skipsfartsøkonomisk Institutt from 1958 to his retirement in 1991. In 1953 he married Bertha I. Nygaard.[1]
He was a member of Bergen city council from 1956 to 1967, and chaired his local Conservative Party chapter from 1967 to 1970.[1] In 1972 he chaired the county chapter of Ja til EF.[2] He also chaired the board of the theatre Den Nationale Scene from 1960 to 1991, the Norwegian Theatres Association from 1970 to 1992, and the board of Den norske Creditbank's department in Bergen.[1] He helped found the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, and chaired it for ten years. He was a board member of the Bergen International Festival and a member of the National Wages Board.[1]
He biographed Vebjørn Tandberg together with Helmer Dahl, both Rolf Berntzen and Lothar Lindtner together with Alf H. Madsen, as well as Hilmar Reksten.[1] Other important books are Sea Transport and Shipping Economics (1958), Industriens historie i Norge (1969, with Gunnar Wasberg) and I fartens, kraftens og velstandens epoke (1977).[3] His academic publications number about 120, and he is a member of the Selskapet til Vitenskapenes Fremme from 1967. He has won the Hedda Award and is a Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav.[1]