| 21. |
- Hallsten, Kerstin, 1963-
(författare)
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Essays on the effects of monetary policy
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation consists of three essays, each of which addresses issues that are relevant to the implementation of monetary policy.The first essay, "Bank Loans and the Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy," considers one of the transmission mechanisms of monetary policy, the bank lending channel. This mechanism is analysed and estimated. The theory emphasises the role of banks. Banks are important because of asymmetric information in the financial market and because banks are assumed to handle this problem better than other lenders. Banks therefore give loans to borrowers that, because they are subject to asymmetric information problems, find it costly or perhaps impossible to issue bonds in the private bond market. Loans from an intermediary and bonds issued at the bond market can therefore not be seen as perfect substitutes, which is often assumed in the macro economic literature. Further also banks find loans and bonds to be imperfect substitutes since it is assumed that it is costly for a bank to change the relation between the possession of bonds and loans in its portfolio.By changing the amount of deposits and thereby the availability of loans in the bank sector the central bank influences aggregate demand in the economy through a bank lending channel, assuming prices are temporarily sticky. Under certain conditions it follows that the bank lending channel works in line with the ordinary money channel and the effect of monetary policy on aggregate income is hence enhanced.It is then tested for the importance of this channel using Swedish data. As predicted by the bank lending channel the mix between bank loans and other sources of financing and the spread between the loan rate and the bond rate are significantly altered after a change in the stance of monetary policy. Real effects are tested for simultaneously. It follows that both the mix and the spread have real effects on the economy and that the effects of monetary policy is enhanced. A number of countries have adopted inflation targeting in various forms as the framework for monetary policy. Even if the arguments for inflation targeting have been widely accepted, many problems of how to implement such a policy in practice remain to be solved. The second essay, "Implications of Inflation Targeting," contains an analysis of how the central bank should set its operating instruments in order to control its target(s). It is also analysed for how long the actual and the targeted inflation rate can be accepted to deviate under different policy regimes and how different stabilisation goals affect the variability in inflation, output and the short term interest rate. For that purpose a simple model for the Swedish economy is estimated.The third essay is entitled "An Expectations-Augmented Phillips Curve in an Open Economy." Here an expectations-augmented Phillips curve relation in an open economy is derived and estimated. As in Rotemberg's (1982) model firms are assumed to face quadratic price adjustment costs. In addition, second-order costs of changing prices are included. Consequently the derived inflation equation incorporates not only a forward-looking component but also a backward-looking element. The model is then estimated on Swedish data. The results from this estimation shed light on the importance of inflation expectations, in comparison to past inflation rates, for the development of current inflation. This is, for example, of great importance to a central bank trying to achieve an inflation target. A common characteristic of inflation targeting models is that with a lower degree of persistence in inflation, a credible central bank can achieve its inflation target with relatively little loss in output.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
- Jansson, Joakim, 1986-
(författare)
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We are (not) anonymous : Essays on anonymity, discrimination and online hate
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Haters gonna hate? - Anonymity, misogyny and hate against foreigners in online discussions on political topics. A crucial aspect of freedom of expression is anonymity, but anonymity is a contentious matter. It enables individuals to discuss without fear of repercussions, but anonymity can also lead to hateful writings threatening other's freedom. In this paper, we predict hateful content as well as estimate the causal link between anonymity and hateful content in civic discussions online. First, we make use of a supervised machine-learning model to predict hate in general, hate against foreigners and hate against females and feminists on a dominating Swedish Internet discussion forum. Second, using a difference-in-difference model we show that an exogenous decrease in anonymity leads to less hateful content in general hate and hate against foreigners, but an increase in hate against females and feminists. The mechanisms behind the changes is a combination of a decrease in writing hateful, as well as a decrease in writing in general and a substitution of hate against one group to another.Gender grading bias at Stockholm University: quasi-experimental evidence from an anonymous grading reform. In this paper, we first present novel evidence of grading bias against women at the university level. This is in contrast to previous results at the secondary education level. Contrary to the gender composition at lower levels of education in Sweden, the teachers and graders at the university level are predominantly male. Thus, an in-group bias mechanism could consistently explain the evidence from both the university and secondary education level. However, we find that in-group bias can only explain approximately 20 percent of the total grading bias effect at the university level.Anticipation Effects of a Board Room Gender Quota Law: Evidence from a Credible Threat in Sweden. Board room quota laws have recently received an increasing amount of attention. However, laws are typically anticipated and firms can react before the effective date. This paper provides new results on female board participation and firm performance in Sweden due to a credible threat of a quota law enacted by the Swedish deputy prime minister. The threat caused a substantial and rapid increase in the share of female board members in firms listed on the Stockholm stock exchange. This increase was accompanied by an increase in different measures of firm performance in the same years, which were related to higher sales and lower labor costs. The results highlight that anticipatory effects of a law could be detrimental to the analysis.Differences in prison sentencing between the genders and immigration background in Sweden: discrepancies and possible explanations. I use data on punished drunk drivers to document differences in sentencing for the same crime between immigrants and native born and males and females respectively. Differences in past criminal activity or other individual observables can not explain the difference in sentencing. Instead, the difference between immigrants and native born seem to be due to statistical discrimination, while differences in recidivism rates might explain the gender difference. However, the higher incarceration rate for immigrants does not reduce their future number of crimes.
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| 25. |
- Johan, Egebark, 1980-
(författare)
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Taxes, Nudges, and Conformity : Essays in Labor and Behavioral Economics
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four papers summarized as follows.Do Payroll Tax Cuts Raise Youth Employment? We study whether payroll tax reductions are an effective means to raise youth employment. In 2007, the Swedish employer-paid payroll tax was cut on a large scale for young workers, substantially reducing labor costs for this group. Using the variation in payroll taxes across cohorts, we estimate a significant, but small, impact both on employment and on wages.Effects of Taxes on Youth Self-Employment and Income. I examine the link between taxes and youth self-employment. I make use of a Swedish reform that made the payroll tax and the self-employment tax vary by age. The results suggest that youth self-employment is insensitive to tax reductions, both in the short run and in the somewhat longer run. For those defined as self-employed, I find positive effects on income from self-employment, and negative effects on income from wage employment.Can Indifference Make the World Greener? We conducted a natural field experiment at a large university in Sweden to evaluate the effects of two resource conservation programs. The first intervention consisted of a campaign that actively tried to convince people to cut back on printing in general, and to use double-sided printing whenever possible. The second intervention exploited people's tendency to stick with pre-set alternatives. At random points in time we changed the printers’ default settings, from single-sided to double-sided printing. Whereas the moral appeal had no impact, the default change cut paper use by 15 percent.The Origins of Behavioral Contagion: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Facebook. We explore the micro-level foundations of behavioral contagion by running a natural field experiment on the networking site Facebook. Members of Facebook express positive support to content on the website by clicking a Like button. We show that users are more prone to support content if someone else has done so before.
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| 26. |
- Kessel, Dany, 1982-
(författare)
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School Choice, School Performance and School Segregation : Institutions and Design
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four self-contained chapters. The first chapter, Are Parents Uninformed? – The Impact of School Performance Information on School Choice Behavior and Student Assignment, is co-authored by Elsisabet Olme. We investigate the effects of school performance information on school choice behavior and student assignment. A randomly selected group of students, about to choose middle school, were provided with information about the performance of the available schools. Households that received the information became more prone to choose a top-performing school. This effect is driven by native and high-skilled households. We simulate how this change in choice behavior translates into changes in school assignment. We find that enrollment in the top-performing schools increases but the effect is muted by limited capacity. We also find that the treatment increases the gap in school performance between advantaged and disadvantaged households, decreases segregation in terms of migration background and increases segregation in terms of parental skill-level. The second chapter, School Choice Priority Structures and School Segregation, is also co-authored by Elsisabet Olme. We evaluate how school segregation is affected by altering the priority structures in a school choice program. We evaluate three priority structures, one proximity-based, one lottery-based and one based on soft quotas. Using actual choice data and simulations we find that that priority structures do affect school segregation. When reserving seats for different groups, schools are less segregated compared to when using systems where priorities are based on proximity or a lottery. We find that the average costs in terms of welfare are limited but that the different priority structures benefit different subgroups. In the third chapter, Debiasing the Gender Differences in Willingness to Compete – The Effects of General Information on the Gender Gap and Efficiency, I explore if informing people about the gender differences in the willingness to compete and the accompanying inefficiencies can reduce said differences and inefficiencies. In an experiment where the participants got to choose whether to compete or not, a random sample of participants were informed about the gender differences in willingness to compete and the related inefficiencies. Among those not informed, men were much more likely to compete than women. There were also significant inefficiencies from low-performing men choosing to compete and high-performing women choosing not to. The treatment reversed the gender gap and significantly reduced inefficiency. The fourth chapter, The Housing Wealth Effect: Quasi-Experimental Evidence is co-authored by Roine Vestman and Björn Tyrefors Hinnerich. We exploit a quasi-experiment that occurred in Stockholm in 2007 when the contract of Stockholm's city airport was unexpectedly renewed. We estimate an immediate shock of approximately 16 percent to house prices close to the airport. This source of price variation is ideal to identify housing wealth effects since it is local and unrelated to variation in macroeconomic conditions. Using a household data set with granular geographic information on primary residence, we find an MPC on cars of less than 0.2 cents per dollar.
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| 27. |
- Khoban, Roza, 1989-
(författare)
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Globalization and Development : The Impact of International Trade on Political and Social Institutions
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Impact of Trade Liberalization in the Presence of Political DistortionsPolitical distortions are prevalent in many developing countries and can imply substantial productivity losses. Theory is ambiguous as to whether greater openness to trade amplifies or reduces the effects of such distortions. This paper shows that trade liberalization in India decreased the value of firms' political connections, suggesting a reduction in political distortions. First, using variation in firm connections stemming from political turnover, we identify that political connections increased firm performance by 10-20%. Second, we evaluate how the value of political connections changed after India's externally imposed tariff reductions, using a triple-difference and difference-in-discontinuities design. We find that political connections became substantially less valuable when tariffs on input goods were reduced. Our findings imply that access to international markets reduces firms' dependence on political connections to source input goods, thus reducing the distortionary effect of such connections. The results suggest a new margin for gains from trade in the presence of political distortions through a direct effect of trade liberalization on the prevalence of such distortions.Importing Gender EqualityGender equality remains low in many developing countries and can partly be explained by social norms. In this paper, I investigate whether trade and, in particular import, can shift gender norms. Specifically, I study whether trading and interacting with firms in countries with higher gender equality can affect firms' gender composition in India. I construct a global industry-level index of gender equality and exploit India's trade liberalization in the 1990s to study the trade-induced increased exposure to other countries' gender norms. I find that tariff reductions increased the probability of having a female worker only for firms in industries with higher exposure to gender equality. The effect is stronger for firms in industries with higher exposure to gender equality that, to a greater extent, use relationship-specific input goods. Taken together, the results suggest that trade-induced increased exposure to other countries' gender equality can influence firms' gender composition among workers.Trade-Induced Protests: Evidence from the Brazilian Trade LiberalizationThis paper examines whether trade liberalization can induce shifts in citizens' willingness to mobilize and participate in protests. Specifically, I study the regional effects of Brazil's trade liberalization in the 1990s. I show that regions that were exposed to larger tariff reductions experienced a relative increase in protests. Protests increased in harder-hit regions almost immediately after the liberalization, and the effect is amplified over time. By studying potential mechanisms, I show that the surge in protests follows the pattern of the trade-induced increase in income inequality and reductions in government spending.
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| 28. |
- Knutsson, Daniel, 1981-
(författare)
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Public Health Programmes, Healthcare and Child Health
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of three self-contained chapters.Modern Medicine, Public Policy and Infant Health: Evidence from a Preventive Health Programme in Sweden. This paper explores a universal preventive health programme targeting infants that coincided in time with the introduction and availability of an early antibiotic, sulfa. As sulfa only affects infant mortality by reducing pneumonia, the effect of medicine distribution through the program can largely be separated from preventive health inputs. I find that access to the program reduced infant mortality by 7 per cent, which can entirely be attributed to reduced mortality in pneumonia among infants. I find no effect on other infectious diseases. This means that the program was mainly effective through the spread and use of sulfa, facilitated by regular physician contacts and a decentralised health organisation. These findings suggest that universal infant monitoring can be an effective way of providing healthcare to groups with low access to healthcare. However, these gains did not translate to any detectable long-term benefits in health or labour market outcomes.Urban Water Improvement and Health: Evidence from the Early Stages of Industrialisation. Water and sewerage technologies can explain much of the decline in urban mortality during the early 20th century. However, the importance of information on how to use these technologies effectively for positive health effects is still unclear. This paper analyses how water technologies affected health when information on the communicability of infectious diseases was not available. The city of Stockholm introduced a water cleaning system and piped distribution network in 1861, enabling parts of the population in-house access. The historical context allows me to analyse these technologies without sewerage access as no major sewerage system was constructed at the same time. Water cleaning and piped distribution had a large positive impact on health, even without sewerages. However, the effect on infant mortality is smaller and less precise. Infants and small children could therefore be more sensitive than adults to inefficient use of the water technologies due to information constraints.Hospital Crowding and Quality: Evidence from Swedish Delivery Care Units. How hospitals can improve quality has been empirically difficult to establish. I explore resources in delivery care in Sweden as a possible margin for improvement by assessing the relationship between delivery-care crowding and health. Comparing crowded days to average patient volume, I find large effects on neonatal mortality. However, the effect on neonatal mortality is only apparent in large cities, where I find evidence that capacity constraints bind more often. In large city hospitals, crowding is associated with around 50 per cent higher risk of an infant dying in her first month of life. This effect is unrelated to if hospitals have neonatal intensive care units or not. Furthermore, I find that emergency caesarean sections are delayed at times of crowding and argue that delayed medical treatments due to capacity constraints is the most plausible explanation for the findings. These results suggest that there is scope for quality improvements in delivery care at times of high demand.
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| 29. |
- Laun, Lisa, 1981-
(författare)
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Studies on Social Insurance, Income Taxation and Labor Supply
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of five papers, summarized as follows. "Disability Insurance, Population Health, and Employment in Sweden"This paper describes the development of population health and disability insurance utilization for older workers in Sweden and analyzes the relation between the two. We also study the effects of changes in eligibility criteria for older workers. "Does Privatization of Vocational Rehabilitation Improve Labor Market Opportunities? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Sweden"This paper analyzes if privatization of vocational rehabilitation improves labor market opportunities for long-term sick, using a field experiment. We find no differences in employment rates following rehabilitation between individuals who received rehabilitation by private and public providers. "Screening Stringency in the Disability Insurance Program"This paper proposes a strategy for assessing how the inflow to the disability insurance program has been governed over time. We analyze the ex-ante health of new beneficiaries by using ex-post mortality. We find large variation in the relative health of new beneficiaries compared to non-beneficiaries in Sweden over time. "The Effect of Age-Targeted Tax Credits on Retirement Behavior"This paper analyzes the effect of two tax credits for workers above age 65 implemented in Sweden in 2007: an earned income tax credit and a payroll tax credit. I find that the age-targeted tax credits increased employment in the year following the 65th birthday, but the increase was not large enough to offset the implied decrease in tax revenues. "Wage Dynamics and Firm-Level Shocks"This paper proposes a framework for introducing the firm into empirical models of the dynamic income process. The model allows for studying the extent to which firm-level productivity shocks are transmitted to wages. Selection into employment and between jobs is explicitly modeled. We also present a strategy for estimation and identification of the model
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| 30. |
- Linderoth, Anna, 1983-
(författare)
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Essays on Men's Preferences and Gender Inequality in the Labor Market
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Reference Points for Men’s Parental Leave-Taking Behavior:Evidence from Swedish ReformsThis paper tests the hypothesis of reference dependence in men's parental leave takeup. Using register data, I leverage two reforms introducing earmarked provision for fathers. A key empirical challenge in separating reference point behavior arises from the fact that the earmark provisions also altered men's financial incentives to bunch around the value of the provision. To address this issue, I net out behavioral responses to the financial incentives by calculating and controlling for their size and exploiting the fact that financial incentives remained unchanged for sub-groups of households. The findings reveal that introducing reference points through earmark provisions led to a substantial increase in the average number of parental leave days taken per man (the intensive margin) and an elevated likelihood that men would take any parental leave (the extensive margin). In comparison, responses to the financial incentives are modest. The effect of reference dependence was most pronounced immediately after the reforms but gradually declined as men's parental leave takeup increasingly exceeded the earmarked provision.Too Many Female Colleagues For Comfort? Men’s Tipping Behavior and Gender Segregation Across Workplaces.Women and men tend to work in different workplaces, and this gender segregation is an important contributor to the gender wage gap. This paper studies a new explanation for workplace gender segregation, namely that men leave the workplace when the share of women reaches a certain point. I draw on past research on occupation-level tipping to detect potential composition levels—tipping points—where the share of men in a workplace starts dropping discontinuously over time. This analysis uses Swedish register data for all small- and medium-size workplaces from 1986 to 2009 and is carried out separately by men's level of education (high or low). I find strong non-linear patterns for high-skilled men but not for low-skilled ones. The distribution of candidate tipping points for high-skilled workplaces is centered around 25% to 35% female. Using enlistment data, I find a significant decrease in men's cognitive and non-cognitive skills at tipping point. I draw on my empirical findings to show how compositional preferences can be built into a simple model of self-selection. The model explains the observed negative selection of men after a workplace has exceeded a critical tipping point. The result of this paper emphasizes the potential importance of the preferences of the dominant group.Occupational Gender Segregation and Men's Tipping Behavior: the Swedish Case.The division of occupations along gender lines seems to be a common and persistent feature between countries, despite differences in social norms and institutional settings across time. The aim of this paper is to investigate one possible explanation, namely tipping behaviour in occupations. It studies the non-linear dynamics of occupation segregation, applying an approach similar to regression discontinuity design. This paper studies tipping behaviour in the Swedish labour market from 1960 to 1990 and compares it to the results for the U.S. using an analogous methodology. The graphical approach exhibits a highly non-linear relationship in female share. I find candidate tipping points that range between 9 to 32 percent in female share. The results indicate discontinuous changes in net male employment growth at candidate tipping point.
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