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Humanitarian programming in fragile economies often use unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) to offset food insecurity. However, there is an increasing focus on using cash transfers to boost household incomes beyond the short-term through micro-enterprise start-up and growth. This paper conducts a randomised control trial to measure the impact of three different sizes of business grants against UCT in Somalia. We find that giving the same amount of money as a lump sum business grant results in higher likelihood of business ownership and income compared with UCT in the short run (3-4 months after the transfers). However, the impacts are larger and persist 3 years later only for those who received larger amount of grants. The results indicate our 'medium'-sized grant being more cost-effective. © 2022 The Author(s).

In this thesis we examine if sanctions had a causal effect on total trade on Russia after its annexation of Crimea 2014. To answer this a synthetic control method (SCM) and a difference in difference (DiD) method was implemented. The results show that a causal effect of sanctions was not found by neither method. However, the year 2016 and 2017 result gave a statistically significant causal effect with the SCM where the synthetic unit is 1.23 times greater than Russia. A general practical or statistically significant causal effect was not found.

In 1993, economist JB Taylor (1993) observed that the monetary policy in the USA is described by a simple rule, which today is known as the Taylor rule. Since then, many studies were conducted to determine whether Taylor rule explains the monetary policy of central banks all over the world. This study aims to investigate whether the Taylor rule can describe monetary policy in Sweden as initially specified by Taylor (1993). Monetary policy in Sweden from 1995: Q1 to 2018: Q2 is compared to the monetary policy of the USA during the Greenspan years ( 1987: Q4 to 2006: Q1). An ordinary least squares regression method (OLS) is used to estimate the reaction function of the monetary policy of both Sweden and the USA. The results of this study show that the Taylor rule does no describe Monetary policy in Sweden. In contrast, the results show that the US monetary policy during the Greenspan years can be described by the Taylor rule.

Due to health problems and the negative externalities associated with cigarette consumption, many governments try to discourage cigarette consumption by increasing its price through taxation. However, cigarette, like the other addictive goods, is viewed as that it is not sensitive to demand rules and the market forces. This study analyses the effect of price increase on cigarette consumption. We used Swedish time series data from 1970 to 2010.

Our results reveal that though cigarette is addictive substance its demand is sensitive to changes in the price. Estimates from this study indicate short-run price-elasticity of -0.29 and the long run price elasticity of -0.47.

Att erbjuda sommarjobb till ungdomar ses i många länder som ett sätt att förbättra ungdomars möjligheter att komma in och etablera sig på arbetsmarknaden. I Sverige erbjuder de flesta kommuner, delvis finansierat med statliga medel, sommarjobb till ungdomar. Den forskning som finns kring effekten av sommarjobb för ungdomar pekar dock i olika riktningar och lider ofta av metodproblem. Vi undersöker här med bättre metodologiska förutsättningar om kommunala sommarjobb för gymnasieungdomar i Falu kommun har någon positiv effekt på den postgymnasiala inkomstutvecklingen. Vi följer 2 650 ungdomar som, under första året i gymnasiet, ansökte om kommunalt sommarjobb. Vi följer dem tills de når en ålder av som mest 29 år. De kommunala sommarjobben fördelades genom ett lotteriförfarande där alla som ansökte hade lika stor chans att bli tilldelad ett sommarjobb. Vi finner ingen programeffekt för män. För kvinnor upptäcker vi en positiv effekt och då speciellt för kvinnor med låga betyg från grundskolan.

In part because of high and persistent youth unemployment, adolescent students’ transition from school to work is an important policy and research topic. Many countries have implemented public programs offering summer jobs or work while in high-school as measures to smooth the transition. While the immediate effect of the programs on school attendance, school grades, and disposable income is well documented, their effect on the transition to the labor market remains an open question. Observational studies have shown strong positive effects of summer jobs, but also that the estimated effect is highly vulnerable to selection bias. In this paper, some 3700 high-school students applying for summer jobs in the period 1995-2003,via a program, are followed to 30 years of age. A quarter of the applicants were randomly offered a summer job each year. Among the remaining students, 50% had a (non-program related) summer job while in high-school. We find the income, post high-school, for the offered and non-offered groups to be similar and conclude that the effect of summer jobs on the transition to the labor market is inconsequential.

In part because of high youth unemployment, students’ transition from school to work is an important policy and research topic. Public programs offering summer jobs or work while in high school as measures to smooth the transition is commonplace. The immediate effect of the programs on school attendance, school grades, and disposable income is well documented. However, their effect on the transition to the labor market remains unsettled, partly because of a potential selection bias in previous observational studies. In this paper, 2650 first graders of high school in Falun Council, Sweden, randomly allotted summer jobs via a program in the years of 1997-2003, are followed ten years after graduation. The program led to a substantially larger accumulation of work experience while in high school for offered (particularly weak academically performing) females, but not for offered males. Hence, the immediate program effect was heterogeneous. Females were used to estimate the causal effect of work experience while in high school on post-schooling incomes. The (statistically) significant estimate implies an elasticity of 0.4. Work experience while in high school seems to be of future benefit, but the elasticity is potentially inflated due to heterogeneous effects that we were unable to account for.

We consider methods for estimating causal effects of treatment in the situation where the individuals in the treatment and the control group are self selected, i.e., the selection mechanism is not randomized. In this case, simple comparison of treated and control outcomes will not generally yield valid estimates of casual effects. The propensity score method is frequently used for the evaluation of treatment effect. However, this method is based onsome strong assumptions, which are not directly testable. In this paper, we present an alternative modeling approachto draw causal inference by using share random-effect model and the computational algorithm to draw likelihood based inference with such a model. With small numerical studies and a real data analysis, we show that our approach gives not only more efficient estimates but it is also less sensitive to model misspecifications, which we consider, than the existing methods.

The effect of Swedish regional investment grants during 1990-1999 on firm performance, in terms of returns on equity and number of employees, were studied using a propensity-score matching-method to control for sample selection. Firms that received grants did not perform better in terms of returns on equity when compared to matched firms in the control group. In most years, recipient firms also did not hire more employees. The results thus cast doubt on the use of regional investment grants as a general policy instrument to improve firm performance.

Sweden’s gender pension gap is about 33 percent at retirement, reflecting thegender earnings gap – itself a reflection of a structural gender difference in low-pay jobs forwomen and men and career advancement opportunities. The individual nonfinancialdefined contribution (NDC) account data examined show that the allocation of time toinformal care work in the home versus formal market work is the main determinant of thegaps. A case is presented for sharing accounts as the default, making the cost of women’stime in home care explicit and negotiable, reducing the minimum guarantee pension’s roleas an implicit tax-financed spousal subsidy. The paper also analyzes the likelihood ofneeding a guarantee and the effect of sharing under various circumstances.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the possible wage and employment effects generated by the reintroduction of the ROT-deduction in 2008. The reintroduction was seen as a permanent measure, and the aim was to counteract undeclared work and to stimulate and increase the building in Sweden. With this paper, we want to evaluate the wage and employment effects that the ROT-deduction contributed to in Swedish construction companies, more specifically limited companies in the ROT industry. A difference-in-difference method will be used to analyze data collected from limited companies in Sweden, aggregated to industry level. Aggregation is made for our results to be directly comparable to previous studies, and to not exclude the effect caused by new companies in the ROT-industry that may have started due to the reform. The difference-in-difference method involves that a treated group consisting of the construction industries affected by the introduction of the ROT-deduction is compared to a control group consisting of other industries before and after the reform. Our results show that the average wage per employee is not affected by the reform, while the reform has increased the average number of employees in the ROT-industry.

This work has been done with the purpose to evaluate the employment effects in Swedish limited liability companies from the introduction of the RUT deduction. The RUT deduction was introduced in 2007 and means that individuals can make a tax deduction for various kinds of household work. The data used in this study is annual report data for all Swedish limited liability companies during the years 2000 – 2010, aggregated to the three-digit SNI-code level for all Swedish municipalities. Based on this data the employment effects of the RUT deduction were analyzed using a Difference-in-Difference model. The result shows that the RUT deduction has led to 6930 new jobs created in Swedish limited liability companies in the RUT sector. This means that the RUT deduction has had a positive effect on employment.

Conflict or coordination are the most frequently used words describing the industrial relations in developed economies. What is the relationship between the biggest industrial actors in the former Czechoslovakia and is there any coordination? This paper tries to answer this question focusing on the coordination in the main economic spheres in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The research is based on the analysis of statistical data and a survey in which a group of experts completed a questionnaire stemming from the Varieties of Capitalism approach. Almost 30 experts representing employers, trade unions and the state from both countries provided insight into the amount of coordination that exists among the main economic actors. Our findings not only undermine the recent classifications of the Central Europe in the Varieties of Capitalism literature, but also show a slightly different institutional setting of the industrial relations in these two post-communist countries. The main results of our research shows that there is an emerging pattern of ‘systematic un-coordination’ among the key spheres of the national economy as defined by Varieties of Capitalism. The authors conclude this article with a discussion regarding the results and limitations of their research.

We examine if the Nordic power market, Nord Pool, has been competitive or if electricity suppliers have had market power. Specifically, since the evolution from national markets to a multi-national and largely deregulated power market has taken place stepwise, we also examine how the degree of market power has evolved during this integration process. The Bresnahan-Lau method together with weekly data during 1996-2004 are used in the analysis, which shows that electricity suppliers have had small, but statistically significant, market power, but that the market power has been reduced as the Nord Pool area has expanded

This paper looks for evidence of co-integration to the German inflation rate between the countries Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. The method applied is based on econometrics since some certain statistical tests need to be performed to obtain more accurate results. The main tests used are Dickey-Fuller and Augmented version of this test which is vital to test for unit-root and co-integration in this paper. Since the data need to be stationary to perform the analysis in this paper, second difference and the deseasonalisation methods are also used for this purpose. Deseasonalisation method helps this paper progress in two means; to determine the months which have seasonal effect and to form another model with the help of the seasonal months, to obtain stationary series. Finally the original co-integration model is then tested again after deseaonalisation with Dickey-Fuller and Augmented Dickey-Fuller tests. After the tests, I found evidence that Greece, Italy, Sweden, and Turkey are co-integrating with German inflation rate whereas there is no evidence for Spain.

Central banks have become more independent in many countries. A common rationale has been the existence of a credibility (or lack-of-trust) problem for monetary policy. This indicates a possible and until now unexplored link between social trust and central-bank independence. Our empirical findings, based on data from 149 countries, confirm such a link, in the form of a u-shaped relationship. We suggest that two factors help explain this finding: the need for this kind of reform and the ability with which it can be implemented. At low trust, the need for central-bank independence is sufficiently strong to bring it about, in spite of a low ability to undertake reform. At high trust, the ability to undertake reform is sufficiently strong to bring high independence about, in spite of a low need for it. At intermediate trust levels, lastly, neither need nor ability is strong enough to generate very independent central banks.

In 2009 and 2010, the Swedish pharmaceuticals market was reformed. One of the stated policy goals was to achieve low costs for pharmaceutical products dispensed in Sweden. We use price and sales data for off-patent brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals to estimate a log-linear regression model, allowing us to assess how the policy changes affected the cost per defined daily dose. The estimated effect is an 18 % cost reduction per defined daily dose at the retail level and a 34 % reduction in the prices at the wholesale level (pharmacies’ purchase prices). The empirical results suggest that the cost reductions were caused by the introduction of a price cap, an obligation to dispense the lowest-cost generic substitute available in the whole Swedish market, and the introduction of well-defined exchange groups. The reforms thus reduced the cost per defined daily dose for consumers while being advantageous also for the pharmacies, who saw their retail margins increase. However, pharmaceutical firms supplying off-patent pharmaceuticals experienced a clear reduction in the price received for their products.

We study the effect of the degree of exclusivity for the lowest bidder on the average price of generic pharmaceuticals in the short and long terms. Our results indicate that a 1-percentage-point gain in market share of the lowest bidder reduces average costs by 0.2% in the short term and 0.8% in the long term, but also reduces the number of firms by 1%. We find that reducing the number of firms has a strong positive (and hence counteracting) effect on average prices, a 1% reduction raising prices by approximately 1%.

Economic analysis and evaluation of sport events and sports infrastructure is a widely researched topic, especially when it comes to mega-sports events. As many of major and mega events require large amount of resources, governments and municipalities worldwide have to make decisions regarding support for the events. To determine whether and to what extent events should be subsidised with public resources, a thorough analysis of potential impacts of the event has to be conducted. Most of the studies within this field choose Economic Impact Analysis as a method, while many researchers point out a need for costbenefit analysis, as only a comprehensive analysis of costs and benefits for society can justify public subsidies for sport events and sports infrastructure. This paper presents a cost-benefit approach of sports venue evaluation. A cost-benefit analysis made in this paper, on the case of Swedish outdoor area of Lugnet, Falun, presents possible effects of sports infrastructure investments on social welfare. Analysis was aimed towards investments made prior to hosting 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun. Presenting results for three alternative scenarios, this study compares different effects on social benefit. This research paper highlights areas that need to be investigated to ensure the better quality of the results, thus it can be beneficial for further studies of the topic. Results presented in this paper can also be beneficial for policy makers, as many of the potential welfare effects were described.

För närvarande är Långbryggan i Rättvik gjord av impregnerat trä. Förr eller senare kommer

det behövas en renovering och då står kommunen inför ett val. Denna studie presenterar två

av de möjliga alternativen - renovera i impregnerat trä eller träkomposit. Frågan har

studerats ur ett samhällsekonomiskt perspektiv med extra fokus på samhällsekonomisk

effektivitet. Vi använde oss av en kostnadsnyttoanalys för att bestämma vilket projekt av de

två som är det lönsammare. I vår analys inkluderade vi kostnader för den initiala

investeringen, underhållskostnader samt kostnader för olycksfall. Vi testade våra resultat i

en känslighetsanalys där vi använde oss av Monte Carlo-simulering med avseende på

diskonteringsräntan och olycksfallskostnader. I vår studie har vi visat möjliga effekter som

de båda projekten kan ha på trä- och träkompositsmarkander, arbetsmarknaden, Rättviks

kommun, Långbryggans säkerhet och miljön. Resultatet av våra analyser visade att båda

projekten har ett negativt nettonuvärde, dock är träkompositprojektet mer

samhällsekonomiskt lönsamt eftersom det har ett lägre negativt värde.

The repo rate, which is the key interest rate, set by the central banks has been declining for many years and hitting zero in Sweden in late 2014. We analyse the effectiveness on the economy from a change in the repo rate, comparing two time periods with high and low repo rate environments. We use quarterly data on GDP and its components, between 1994 and 2019. For analysing the effectiveness, we use multiple Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) modelling to compute a total of 12 models. In our findings, we saw that the effectiveness of a change in repo rate has been increased in the low repo rate environment, making it harder to increase the rate without harming the economy but also increasing the effect of a decrease in the repo rate. Also, we found that the investment component of GDP may exhibit extra high effectiveness in the low repo rate environment. This method of analysing the repo rates impact on the economy could be used for decision makers regarding monetary policies.

The Swedish government gathers information that helps identify family-owned businesses and enabled us to analyze every business in the economy over a longer period than has heretofore been reported. Using these data, we found that family-owned businesses account for up to one fourth of total employment and one fifth of GDP in Sweden. These shares have increased over time, due in part, to economic policy. We compare our findings with other studies and suggest how Sweden and other governments might make family firm data more readily available for researchers.

Self–employment is the most frequently used measure of entrepreneurship. However, its definition varies between countries, which makes comparisons difficult. We present an analysis of Swedish self–employment data and show that even within one country, the depicted development differs greatly depending on the source used. Unlike previous claims in cross–country studies, we find that there is no basis for categorising Sweden as having increased its self–employment rate more than others. This demonstrates a need to carefully specify the characteristics of the data, and their advantages and disadvantages, before drawing conclusions about the frequency of entrepreneurship in different countries.

In this paper we investigate how attitudes to health and exercise in connection with cycling influence the estimation of values of travel time savings in different kinds of bicycle environments (mixed traffic, bicycle lane in the road way, bicycle path next to the road, and bicycle path not in connection with the road). The results, based on two Swedish stated choice studies, suggest that the values of travel time savings are lower when cycling in better conditions. Surprisingly, the respondents do not consider cycling on a path next to the road worse than cycling on a path not in connection to the road, indicating that they do not take traffic noise and air pollution into account in their decision to cycle. No difference can be found between cycling on a road way (mixed traffic) and cycling in a bicycle lane in the road way. The results also indicate that respondents that include health aspects in their choice to cycle have lower value of travel time savings for cycling than respondents that state that health aspects are of less importance, at least when cycling on a bicycle path. The appraisals of travel time savings regarding cycling also differ a lot depending on the respondents’ alternative travel mode. The individuals who stated that they will take the car if they do not cycle have a much higher valuation of travel time savings than the persons stating public transport as the main alternative to cycling.

Hos gemene man anses partihandel ofta vara detsamma som ledet mellan producent och detaljhandlare. Partihandeln är emellertid betydligt mer komplex än så. Partihandeln består av flera olika delbranscher som kan vara mycket olika varandra. En del partihandelsbranscher ligger närmare detaljhandeln, medan andra har mycket gemensamt med tillverkningsindustrin. I denna artikel presenteras statstik över den Svenska partihandelns betydelse i ekonomin, dess geografiska spridning illustreras grafiskt, och slutligen genomförs tre fallstudier av Svenska partihandelsföretag. I de tre fallstudierna anges några faktorer ha större betydelse än andra för partihandlarnas framtid. Dessa faktorer, som diskuteras utförligt i artikeln, är bland annat teknologisk utveckling, internationalisering, och en förändrad konkurrenssituation.

The topic of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of how the institutional framework affects firms’ hiring decisions.

The first article focuses on a group of firms, called sleeping gazelles, that do not grow despite having high profits. Sleeping gazelles constitute a much larger share of the firm population than that of high-growth firms. If it is growth barriers that are hindering these firms from hiring more employees, many new jobs could be created if these barriers were removed. To investigate the effects of one of the suggested growth barriers in the literature, the second article, focuses on whether small-firm growth is hampered by lack of capital. Using survey data from business owners matched with register data, we find that firms may face a capital constraint paradox, whereby the supply of external capital might be sufficient, but firm owners might refrain from accessing it due to fear of losing control of their companies. The third article investigates whether employment protection acts as a growth barrier in Sweden. Using a reform of the Swedish last-in-first-out (LIFO) rule, we estimate the causal effects from a liberalization of the employment protection. We find that firm growth increased because of the reform and that a more expansive reform could provide new job opportunities and increase overall employment. The LIFO rule was introduced to protect older workers. The fourth article investigates whether the reform weakened the labor market position of these workers. It is found that more young individuals who were unemployed or previously not in the workforce were hired as a consequence of the reform, showing that the reform lowered youth unemployment. There is no indication of older workers leaving the workforce or becoming unemployed to any greater extent after the reform. The fifth article show that the positive effects of the reform were limited to native workers, with no effects on the labor market position of immigrants. The effects depend on the relative insider-status of employees, so that groups of employees who are closer to being insiders benefit more from less-strict employment protection legislation than groups that are further from being insiders.

Den stora merparten av alla detaljhandelsföretag karakteriseras av ingen eller en marginell tillväxt av antalet anställda. Dessa företag betraktas ofta som en homogen grupp bestående av företag med inga tillväxtambitioner och som näringspolitiken inte bör inriktas gentemot. I denna rapport visar vi dock att de företag som inte växer i själva verket är mycket heterogena. Mer än tio procent av alla detaljhandelsföretag som inte växer under en treårsperiod kännetecknas av en relativt hög lönsamhet. Dessa företag kallar vi för de sovande gasellerna eftersom tidigare studier har visat att hög lönsamhet är en viktig faktor för en långsiktigt hållbar framtida tillväxt av antalet anställda. Andelen sovande gaseller inom detaljhandeln är cirka 1,5 till 2,35 procentenheter fler än i ekonomin som helhet. Hälften av dessa detaljhandelsföretag kommer inte heller att öka antalet anställda i kommande perioder, trots att de fortsätter att ha en hög lönsamhet eller en lönsamhet i paritet med det genomsnittliga företaget. Detta visar att det finns en dold tillväxtpotential inom detaljhandeln i Sverige som inte har realiserat. Resultaten från studien visar också att de sovande gasellerna inom detaljhandeln inte är slumpmässigt dragna ur företagspopulationen, utan att det framförallt är små företag som väljer att inte expandera verksamheten mellan två treårsperioder. De sovande gasellerna är inte heller slumpmässigt fördelade geografiskt i Sverige. De kommuner som har en hög andel sovande gaseller inom detaljhandeln under en tidsperiod tenderar att även ha det i kommande tidsperioder, vilket indikerar att det finns geografiska förklaringar till varför vissa företag inte växer trots att de har en god lönsamhet. Avsaknaden av tillväxt hos dessa företag kan antingen förklaras av att de inte har några tillväxtambitioner, oavsett villkoren för företagande; alternativt att de vill växa, men inte under rådande förutsättningar. Om den senare förklaringen är giltig kan reformer som minskar tillväxtbarriärer för detaljhandelsföretagen generera många nya arbetstillfällen.

A natural experiment is used to identify the causal relationship between employment protection legislation and fi…rm growth. The natural experiment occurred in Sweden in 2001, when an exemption made it possible for fi…rms with less than eleven employees to exclude two workers from the last-in-fi…rst-out principle when dismissing personnel. The estimated average treatment effect of the reform show that the number of employees increased with 0.135 percent in fi…rms with 5-9 employees relative to fi…rms with 10-15 employees, which corresponds to over 5,000 additional jobs per year created by the reform. Firms with ten employees, just below the size threshold, became 3.4 percent less likely to increase their workforce to a level surpassing the threshold, indicating that the last-in-…first-out rule prevented these …firms from growing. Thus, employment protection legislation seems to act as a growth barrier for small fi…rms.

A Swedish reform in 2001 made it possible for firms with less than 11 employees to exclude two from the last-in-first-out principle in case of layoffs. The reform increased employment growth with over 4000 additional jobs per year among firms with five to nine employees. Firms with 10 employees became 3.4 percentage points less likely to increase their workforce, indicating that the introduced threshold kept them from growing. Thus, employment protection legislation seems to act as a growth barrier for small firms.

Among 104,231 limited liability firms in Sweden with at least two employees during 1997- 2010, almost 10% did not hire new employees in any given 3-year period despite having high profits. Nearly half of these firms continued to have high or medium profits in the next threeyear period, but still no growth. Regression analysis indicates that these firms were not randomly distributed; rather they were small and young, did not belong to an enterprise group, and operated in local markets with high profit-opportunities. We conclude that it might be more beneficial to focus policy towards these firms instead of towards a few high-growth firms that, having just grown exponentially, may not be best positioned to grow further.

Among 104,231 limited liability fi…rms in Sweden with at least two employees during 1997-2010, almost 10 % did not hire new employees in any given 3-year period despite having high profi…ts. Nearly half of these …firms continued to have high or medium pro…fits in the next three-year period, but still no growth. Regression analysis indicates that these fi…rms were not randomly distributed; rather they were small and young, did not belong to an enterprise group, and operated in local markets with high profi…t-opportunities. We conclude that it might be more benefi…cial to focus policy towards these …firms instead of towards a few high-growth fi…rms that, having just grown exponentially, may not be best positioned to grow further.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of the entrepreneur’s quest for independence and control over the firm for governance and financing strategies with a special focus on family firms and how they differ from nonfamily firms.

Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on 1,000 telephone interviews with Swedish micro and small firms. The survey data are matched with firm-level data from the Bureau van Dijks database ORBIS.

Findings – The analysis shows that independence is a prime motive for enterprises, statistically significantly more so for family owners. Family owners are more prone to use either their own savings or loans from family and are more reluctant to resort to external equity capital. Our results indicate a potential “capital constraint paradox”; there might be an abundance of external capital while firm growth is simultaneously constrained by a lack of internal funds.

Research limitations/implications – The main limitation is that the study is based on cross-section data. Future studies could thus be based on longitudinal data.

Practical implications – The authors argue that policy makers must recognize independence and control aversion as strong norms that guide entrepreneurial action and that micro- and small-firm growth would profit more from lower personal and corporate income taxes compared to policy schemes intended to increase the supply of external capital.

Originality/value – The paper offers new insights regarding the value of independence and how it affects strategic decisions within the firm.

The purpose of this thesis has been to study what the introduction of the RUT deduction 2007

has meant for employees in existing Swedish limited companies in the RUT industry. The

RUT deduction is a tax subsidy that allows the public to buy household services at a reduced

price. The study has been conducted by empirically studying how average wages per

employee and average number of employees in existing Swedish limited companies have

changed within the RUT industry between 2006 and 2008, ceteris paribus. For this, a

Difference-in-Difference method was used with fixed effects and robust standard errors. The

data used for the study was accounting data from companies, collected by PAR. The dataset

consisted of 2,506 companies in the RUT industry and a total of 74,798 observations. The

result shows that on average, within the existing companies in the industry, 1.4 new jobs have

been created per company and the annual salary for employees in these companies has

increased by an average of SEK 10,931 per employee. In total, 3,065 new jobs have been

created in these existing limited companies, which can be compared with previous studies

where the average number of employees on average was approximately 5,700. Previously,

wage effects resulting from the RUT deduction have not been studied, which means that this

work contributes to new research in a previously unexplored area.

Tax incentives on research and development (R&D) are an important and widely used policyinstrument to elevate business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD). In times of economicdistress, firms tend to reduce their R&D investments, although it is crucial for long-termeconomic growth to keep those at a stable level. To evaluate the suitability for such policygoals, this paper investigates the relationship between the pre-existing level of R&D taxincentives and BERD during times of economic crisis.Country-level data from the OECD member states is used to investigate the mentionedrelationship for three times of economic distress: the early 2000s recession, the GreatRecession, and the European sovereign debt crisis. Separate cross-sectional data sets arecreated and analysed with a linear regression approach. The results show a significant andpositive relationship only for the early 2000s recession period and thereby do not provide clearevidence of an increased BERD resilience as result of higher pre-existing tax incentives.Thereby, these findings indicate the need for different policy measures to be applied for anautomatic or short-term stabilization of BERD in times of economic distress.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate willingness to pay and consumer surplus

for the Peace & Love festival 2016 and then compare it to an earlier study of

willingness to pay and consumer surplus for the Peace & Love festival 2011. The

study of the festival year 2011 is written by Dahlqvist and Laham (2016). The

study of the festival year 2016 is done by means of a regression analysis. The

analysis is built on data from a survey conducted during the festival. The visitors

self-reported total budget, which is the dependent variable, is treated as their

maximum willingness-to-pay. The independent variable gender was found not to

be statistically significant,

ceteris paribus, while income has a positive effect on

the total budget by an average of 281 SEK per income group of 10 000 SEK

(monthly and before taxes). Furthermore, it was found that a tourist spends in

average 652 SEK more than a non-tourist. Moreover, if the respondents paid the

ticket themselves it affects the total budget negatively by an average of 1 695 SEK

while the number of days they spent at the festival increases the total budget by an

average of 413 SEK for each day. Lastly each additional year of age decreases the

total budget with 17 SEK, on average. When the ratio between an independent

variable and a dependent variable is described, every other independent variable is

presumed to be held constant,

ceteris paribus. Visitors average willingness to pay

was estimated at 2 223 SEK per visitor and 31 122 000 SEK for all 14 000 visitors.

Average consumption was estimated at 2 444 SEK per visitor and 34 211 965 SEK

for all visitors. Additionally, the consumer surplus is estimated at -221 SEK per

visitor and for all visitors the consumer surplus is estimated at -3 089 965 SEK,

which means a change of -130 percent from the year 2011 when the estimated

consumer surplus was around 37 million SEK.

Heterogeneity in the school education quality plays an important role for those who want to pursue a bachelor's degree in Peru since access to higher education is highly correlated with socioeconomic status. In that sense, an intervention for disadvantaged students took place for the first time in 2022 and was constrained to the assessment of a scholarship called “Beca 18”, the biggest scholarship that the public institution called PRONABEC addresses every year since 2012. The intervention included additional tools for a group of applicants: (i) full-time online classes for 2 to 4 months; (ii) an electronic device with an internet connection; and (iii) the admission exam payment fully covered up to 2 times. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention in increasing the likelihood of the treated to access higher education through the 2022 “Beca 18” scholarship process. As the treatment was not randomly assigned, a control group was estimated using the Propensity Score Matching methodology based on individual characteristics. Results showed that there is no statistically significant effect of the intervention in the treated applicants and invite to re-evaluate its design and implementation.

We develop a method for empirically measuring the difference in carbon footprint between traditional and online retailing (“e-tailing”) from entry point to a geographical area to consumer residence. The method only requires data on the locations of brick-and-mortar stores, online delivery points, and residences of the region’s population, and on the goods transportation networks in the studied region. Such data are readily available in most countries, so the method is not country or region specific. The method has been evaluated using data from the Dalecarlia region in Sweden, and is shown to be robust to all assumptions made. In our empirical example, the results indicate that the average distance from consumer residence to a brick-and-mortar retailer is 48.54 km in the studied region, while the average distance to an online delivery point is 6.7 km. The results also indicate that e-tailing increases the average distance traveled from the regional entry point to the delivery point from 47.15 km for a brick-and-mortar store to 122.75 km for the online delivery points. However, as professional carriers transport the products in bulk to stores or online delivery points, which is more efficient than consumers’ transporting the products to their residences, the results indicate that consumers switching from traditional to e-tailing on average reduce their CO₂ footprints by 84% when buying standard consumer electronics products. 

We develop a method for empirically measuring the difference in carbon footprint between traditional and online retailing (“e-tailing”) from entry point to a geographical area to consumer residence. The method only requires data on the locations of brick-and-mortar stores, online delivery points, and residences of the region’s population, and on the goods transportation networks in the studied region. Such data are readily available in most countries, so the method is not country or region specific. The method has been evaluated using data from the Dalecarlia region in Sweden, and is shown to be robust to all assumptions made. In our empirical example, the results indicate that the average distance from consumer residence to a brick-and-mortar retailer is 48.54 km in the studied region, while the average distance to an online delivery point is 6.7 km. The results also indicate that e-tailing increases the average distance traveled from the regional entry point to the delivery point from 47.15 km for a brick-and-mortar store to 122.75 km for the online delivery points. However, as professional carriers transport the products in bulk to stores or online delivery points, which is more efficient than consumers’ transporting the products to their residences, the results indicate that consumers switching from traditional to e-tailing on average reduce their CO₂ footprints by 84% when buying standard consumer electronics products. 

To finance transportation infrastructure and to address social and environmental negative externalities of road transports, several countries have recently introduced or consider a distance based tax on trucks. In the competitive retail market such tax can be expected to lower the demand and thereby reduce CO₂ emissions of road transports. However, as we show in this paper, such tax might also slow down the transition towards e-tailing. Considering that previous research indicates that a consumer switching from brick-and-mortar shopping to e-tailing reduces her CO₂ emissions substantially, the direction and magnitude of the environmental net effect of the tax is unclear. In this paper, we assess the net effect in a Swedish regional retail market where the tax not yet is in place. We predict the net effect on CO₂ emissions to be positive, but off-set by about 50% because of a slower transition to e-tailing.

In recent decades, many central banks of the world over have been made independent. This paper empirically analyzes the difference between de jure and de facto independence; examining the concept of central bank independence (CBI) and with a focus on social trust, and the effectiveness of these two variables with regard to reducing the rate of inflation. Countries are grouped into four categories in line with Arnone et al’s (2007) index. The categories are i. All countries, ii. Advanced countries, iii. Emerging countries and iv. Developing countries. The results are obtained by simple correlation and the ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis. The results indicate that both CBI and social trust have a significant effect on inflation in all countries while social trust also has a significant effect on inflation in advanced countries to reduce inflation. It seems social trust plays a more critical role than CBI in affecting inflation. Developing countries with high levels of social-trust usually also have fewer independent central banks, which could be an indication that such countries feel no need to implement CBI-reforms. For more developed countries, it appears trust is not as important for the level of CBI. That being said, in low-trust countries, social trust does not seem to have any effect.

This paper examines the relationships among per capita CO₂ emissions, per capita GDP and international trade based on panel data spanning the period 1960–2008 for 150 countries. A distinction is also made between OECD and non-OECD countries to capture the differences of this relationship between developed and developing economies. We apply panel unit root and cointegration tests and estimate a panel error correction model. The results from the error correction model suggest that there are long-term relationships between the variables for the whole sample and for non-OECD countries. Finally, Granger causality tests show that there is bidirectional short-term causality between per capita GDP and international trade for the whole sample and between per capita GDP and CO₂ emissions for OECD countries.

This paper examines the relationships among per capita CO₂ emissions, per capita GDP and international trade based on panel data sets spanning the period 1960-2008: one for 150 countries and the others for sub-samples comprising OECD and Non-OECD economies. We apply panel unit root and cointegration tests, and estimate a panel error correction model. The results from the error correction model suggest that there are long-term relationships between the variables for the whole sample and for Non-OECD countries. Finally, Granger causality tests show that there is bi-directional short-term causality between per capita GDP and international trade for the whole sample and between per capita GDP and CO₂ emissions for OECD countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the emissions of CO2 in Italy during 1861 to 2002.The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is applied to explore the relationship between CO2 emissionand Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. An Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA) is also appliedto investigate changes in emissions between 1990 to 2002. Several factors contribute to change in theemission of CO2. These factors generally include a scale effect, a technological effect and a compositioneffect.

Design/methodology/approach – The main discussion in the paper is about the exiting of EKC in Italy and how a decomposition analysis can be used to look behind the time series of the environmentalaccounts.

Findings – The findings in the paper indicate the typical inverted “U” form of EKC is not confirmedwith our data set for Italy. According our econometric results, there is a positive relationship betweeneconomic growth and CO2; following the trend, the maximum emission of CO2 per capita in Italy wouldbe reached when the GDP per capita will be about 26900 US$ (turning point). Basically, two majorforces have determined the increase of CO2 pollution in Italy over time: eco-efficiency (pollution permonetary unit of output) and volume effect (volume growth of Value Added).

Practical implications – The decomposition method performed in this paper allows us to analysewhich sectors are responsible for CO2 emissions and quantify the magnitude of the theoretical factorsexpected to influence the emission. The method used for the decomposition analysis can also beapplied by countries with lack of time series Input-Output data.

Originality/value – The investigation in the paper of the existing of EKC allows to know at whichlevel of income the CO2 emissions will start decreasing in Italy. The analysis is based on a long timeseries (141 years). Decomposition analysis can be considered a tool, which helps to detect whether theincrease of CO2 is mainly due to economic growth or technological change.

This thesis consists of a summary and four self-contained papers.

Paper [I] Following the 1987 report by The World Commission on Environment and Development, the genuine saving has come to play a key role in the context of sustainable development, and the World Bank regularly publishes numbers for genuine saving on a national basis. However, these numbers are typically calculated as if the tax system is non-distortionary. This paper presents an analogue to genuine saving in a second best economy, where the government raises revenue by means of distortionary taxation. We show how the social cost of public debt, which depends on the marginal excess burden, ought to be reflected in the genuine saving. We also illustrate by presenting calculations for Greece, Japan, Portugal, U.K., U.S. and OECD average, showing that the numbers published by the World Bank are likely to be biased and may even give incorrect information as to whether the economy is locally sustainable.

Paper [II] This paper examines the relationships among per capita CO₂ emissions, per capita GDP and international trade based on panel data spanning the period 1960-2008 for 150 countries. A distinction is also made between OECD and Non-OECD countries to capture the differences of this relationship between developed and developing economies. We apply panel unit root and cointegration tests, and estimate a panel error correction model. The results from the error correction model suggest that there are long-term relationships between the variables for the whole sample and for Non-OECD countries. Finally, Granger causality tests show that there is bi-directional short-term causality between per capita GDP and international trade for the whole sample and between per capita GDP and CO₂ emissions for OECD countries.

Paper [III] Fundamental questions in economics are why some regions are richer than others, why their growth rates differ, whether their growth rates tend to converge, and what key factors contribute to explain economic growth. This paper deals with the average income growth, net migration, and changes in unemployment rates at the municipal level in Sweden. The aim is to explore in depth the effects of possible underlying determinants with a particular focus on local policy variables. The analysis is based on a three-equation model. Our results show, among other things, that increases in the local public expenditure and income taxe rate have negative effects on subsequent income income growth. In addition, the results show conditional convergence, i.e. that the average income among the municipal residents tends to grow more rapidly in relatively poor local jurisdictions than in initially “richer” jurisdictions, conditional on the other explanatory variables.

Paper [IV] This paper explores the relationship between income growth and income inequality using data at the municipal level in Sweden for the period 1992-2007. We estimate a fixed effects panel data growth model, where the within-municipality income inequality is one of the explanatory variables. Different inequality measures (Gini coefficient, top income shares, and measures of inequality in the lower and upper part of the income distribution) are examined. We find a positive and significant relationship between income growth and income inequality measured as the Gini coefficient and top income shares, respectively. In addition, while inequality in the upper part of the income distribution is positively associated with the income growth rate, inequality in the lower part of the income distribution seems to be negatively related to the income growth. Our findings also suggest that increased income inequality enhances growth more in municipalities with a high level of average income than in municipalities with a low level of average income.

This paper explores the relationship between the growth rate of the average income and income inequality using data at the municipal level in Sweden for the period 1992-2007. We estimate a fixed effects panel data growth model where the within-municipality income inequality is one of the explanatory variables. Different inequality measures (Gini coefficient, top income shares, and measures of inequality in the lower and upper ends of the income distribution) are also examined. We find a positive and significant relationship between income growth and income inequality, measured as the Gini coefficient and top income shares, respectively. In addition, while inequality at the upper end of the income distribution is positively associated with the income growth rate, inequality at the lower end of the income distribution seems to be negatively related to the growth rate. Our findings also suggest that increased income inequality enhances growth more in municipalities with a high level of average income than in those with a low level of average income.