| 1. |
- Karlman, Markus, 1989-
(författare)
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Essays on Housing : tax treatment, prices, and macroeconomic implications
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Costly reversals of bad policies: the case of the mortgage interest deductionThis paper measures the welfare effects of removing the mortgage interest deduction under a variety of implementation scenarios. To this end, we build a life-cycle model with heterogeneous households calibrated to the U.S. economy, which features long-term mortgages and costly refinancing. In line with previous research we find that most households would prefer to be born into an economy without the deductibility. However, when we incorporate transitional dynamics less than forty percent of households are in favor of a reform and the average welfare effect is negative. This result holds under a number of removal designs.Mortgage lending standards: implications for consumption dynamicsIn this paper, we investigate to what extent stricter mortgage lending standards affect households' ability to smooth consumption. Using a heterogeneous-household model with incomplete markets, we find that a permanently lower loan-to-value (LTV) or payment-to-income (PTI) requirement only marginally affects the aggregate consumption response to a negative wealth shock. We show that even the distribution of marginal propensities to consume across households is remarkably insensitive to these permanent policies. In contrast, households’ consumption responses can be reduced if a temporary stricter LTV or PTI requirement is implemented prior to a negative wealth shock. However, strong assumptions need to be made for temporary policies to be welfare improving.The great house price divergence: a quantitative investigation of house price fundamentalsWhat explains the widening gap in house prices between U.S. metropolitan areas? In this paper, I build a two-region Rosen-Roback model with heterogeneous households, mortgage borrowing constraints, and housing markets to answer this question. I find that changes in regional productivity and the real interest rate explain 86% of the observed increase in dispersion of prices across metropolitan areas and 66% of the increase in the national house price index since 1995. Endogenous migration and location-varying land rents are key for these findings. When decomposing the results, both wages and the real rate contribute substantially to both the change in the level and dispersion of house prices. Turning to dynamics, prices are quick to adjust to changes in house price fundamentals, whereas migration is slow. This rapid change in prices leads to significant wealth and welfare gains among homeowners in expensive locations.
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| 2. |
- Englund, Undis, 1957-
(författare)
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Physical activity, bone density, and fragility fractures in women
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Scandinavia has among the highest incidence of fragility fractures in the world. The reasons for this are unknown, but might involve differences in genetic and/or environmental factors, such as sunlight exposure and levels of physical activity. Weight-bearing exercise is thought to have a beneficial effect on bone health in the young, but few studies have evaluated whether exercise in older subjects affects bone density and protects against fragility fractures. The initial objective of this thesis was to evaluate whether a combined weight-bearing training programme twice a week would be beneficial as regards bone mineral density (BMD) and neuromuscular function in older women. Forty-eight community living women with a mean age of 73 years were recruited for this 12-month prospective, randomised controlled trial, and were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n=24) or a control group (n=24). The intervention group displayed significant increments in BMD at the Ward’s triangle, maximum walking speed, and isometric grip strength compared to the control group. The second objective was to investigate if training effects were retained in older women five years after the cessation of training. The 40 women who completed the first study included in this thesis were invited to take part in a follow-up assessment five years later, and 34 women (~79 years) agreed to participate. During these five years both groups had sustained significant losses in hip BMD and in all neuromuscular function tests, and the previous exercise-induced intergroup differences were no longer seen. The third and fourth objective of this thesis was to investigate whether exercise and weight-bearing leisure activities in middle-aged women are associated with a decreased risk of sustaining hip or wrist fractures at a later stage. A cohort of women participating in the Umeå Fracture and Osteoporosis (UFO) study, a longitudinal, nested case-control study investigating associations between bone markers, lifestyle, and osteoporotic fractures, was used for the purpose of this investigation. Eighty-one hip fracture cases and 376 wrist fracture cases, which had reported lifestyle data before they sustained their fracture, were identified. These cases were compared with age-matched controls identified from the same cohort. Using conditional logistic regression analysis with adjustments for height, BMI, smoking, and menopausal status, results showed that moderate frequency of leisure physical activities such as gardening and berry/mushroom picking, were associated with reduced hip fracture risk (OR 0.28; 95% CI 0.12 – 0.67), whereas active commuting (especially walking) along with dancing and snow shoveling in leisure time, reduced the wrist fracture risk (OR 0.48; 95% CI 0.27 – 0.88, OR 0.42; 95% CI 0.22 – 0.80 and OR 0.50; 95% CI 0.32 – 0.79 respectively). In summary, this thesis suggests that weight-bearing physical activity is beneficial for BMD and neuromuscular functions such as muscle strength and gait in older women, and that a physically active lifestyle, with outdoor activities, in middle age is associated with reduced risk of both hip and wrist fractures. Possible mechanisms underlying this association include improved muscle strength, coordination, and balance, resulting in a decreased risk of falling and perhaps also direct skeletal benefits.
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| 3. |
- Holmberg, Ulf, 1983-
(författare)
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Essays on credit markets and banking
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four self-contained papers related to banking, credit markets and financial stability. Paper [I] presents a credit market model and finds, using an agent based modeling approach, that credit crunches have a tendency to occur; even when credit markets are almost entirely transparent in the absence of external shocks. We find evidence supporting the asset deterioration hypothesis and results that emphasize the importance of accurate firm quality estimates. In addition, we find that an increase in the debt’s time to maturity, homogenous expected default rates and a conservative lending approach, reduces the probability of a credit crunch. Thus, our results suggest some up till now partially overlooked components contributing to the financial stability of an economy. Paper [II] derives an econometric disequilibrium model for time series data. This is done by error correcting the supply of some good. The model separates between a continuously clearing market and a clearing market in the long-run such that we are able to obtain a novel test of clearing markets. We apply the model to the Swedish market for short-term business loans, and find that this market is characterized by a long-run nonmarket clearing equilibrium. Paper [III] studies the risk-return profile of centralized and decentralized banks. We address the conditions that favor a particular lending regime while acknowledging the effects on lending and returns caused by the course of the business cycle. To analyze these issues, we develop a model which incorporates two stylized facts; (i) banks in which lendingdecisions are decentralized tend to have a lower cost associated with screening potential borrowers and (ii) decentralized decision-making may generate inefficient outcomes because of lack of coordination. Simulations are used to compare the two banking regimes. Among the results, it is found that even though a bank group where decisions are decentralizedmay end up with a portfolio of loans which is (relatively) poorly diversified between regions, the ability to effectively screen potential borrowers may nevertheless give a decentralized bank a lower overall risk in the lending portfolio than when decisions are centralized. In Paper [IV], we argue that the practice used in the valuation of a portfolio of assets is important for the calculation of the Value at Risk. In particular, a seller seeking to liquidate a large portfolio may not face horizontal demand curves. We propose a partially new approach for incorporating this fact in the Value at Risk and Expected Shortfall measures and in an empirical illustration, we compare it to a competing approach. We find substantial differences.
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| 4. |
- Song, Han-Suck, 1968-
(författare)
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Essays on risk and housing
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There is a series of different types of risk on the housing market and related industries. The six papers in this doctoral dissertation are about a number of the many dimensions of risk management on the housing market. The main message of this thesis is that it should be possible for different actors in the housing market to improve risk management. Indeed, the last years’ financial turmoil has revealed that it should not only be possible, but also necessary, to improve risk management at all levels of the economy: at household, corporate, regional, national and international level. Although the complexity of the environment in which we live and act makes it very difficult to predict and quantify risk, the development of risk management techniques should make it possible to better indentify, and reduce risk. The first paper provides a systematic overview of a wide selection of methods or strategies used in different countries to expand but also to maintain home ownership among low income households. The second paper further discusses mortgage and home equity insurance instruments discussed in the first paper. This paper also discusses how a rental insurance policy, as an alternative to traditional rent regulation, may be constructed. Paper 3 develops a formula that might be used in order to value the rental insurance option discussed in paper 2. The fourth paper focuses on the housing building sector by discussing potential benefits of strategic alliances that the different actors in the housing construction market may establish in order to pool resources and manage development risks. The challenge of constructing reliable home price indexes has attracted scholars for many years. Paper 5 develops monthly quality-adjusted price indexes for condominiums (housing cooperative apartments) based on a unique dataset covering sales in the whole of Stockholm municipality from January 2005 to June 2009. Finally paper 6 pays attention to the large increase in housing cooperative conversions sine the 1990s, by deriving a closed-form valuation formula that might be used to value the embedded option an owner of a multi-family rental property has to sell it to a housing cooperative.
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| 5. |
- Haller, Henrik, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Towards a Resilient and Resource-Efficient Local Food System Based on Industrial Symbiosis in Härnösand : A Swedish Case Study
- 2022
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 14:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The endeavour to align the goals of the Swedish food strategy with the national environmental quality objectives and the 17 global SDGs, presents an extraordinary challenge that calls forsystemic innovation. Industrial symbiosis can potentially provide the means for increasing sustainable food production, using locally subexploited resources that can reduce the need for land, agro-chemicals, transport and energy. This case study of the municipality of Härnösand, aims to assess opportunities and challenges for using waste flows and by-products for local food production, facilitated by industrial symbiosis. A potential symbiotic network was developed during three workshops with the main stakeholders in Härnösand. The potential of the COVID-19 pandemic to instigate policy changes, behavioural changes and formation of new alliances that may catalyse the transition towards food systems based on industrial symbiosis is discussed. The material flow inventory revealed that many under exploited resource flows were present in quantities that rendered them commercially interesting. Resources that can be used for innovative food production include, e.g., lignocellulosic residues, rock dust, and food processing waste. The internalised drive among local companies interested in industrial symbiosis and the emerging symbiotic relations, provide a fertile ground for the establishment of a local network that can process the subexploited material flows. Although there are multiple challenges for an industrial symbiosis network to form in Härnösand, this study shows that there is a significant potential to create added value from the region’s many resources while at the same time making the food system more sustainable and resilient, by expanding industrial symbiosis practices.
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| 6. |
- Jönsson, Daniel, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Inviwo - A Visualization System with Usage Abstraction Levels
- 2020
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Ingår i: IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. - : IEEE. - 1077-2626 .- 1941-0506. ; 26:11, s. 3241-3254
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The complexity of todays visualization applications demands specific visualization systems tailored for the development of these applications. Frequently, such systems utilize levels of abstraction to improve the application development process, for insta
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| 7. |
- Oxenstierna, Gabriel C, 1955-
(författare)
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Market power in the Swedish banking oligopoly : a game-theoretic model of competition applied to the five big Swedish banks 1989-97
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis aims at assessing the degree of competition among the five dominating Swedish banks during the period 1989-1997. In so doing, it also aims to develop a general oligopoly model with the specific purpose of providing a tool for an improved methodology for the evaluation of market power in oligopolistic markets, and to demonstrate the empirical application of this methodology.In the first of the three essays, An Asymmetric Oligopoly Model and a Method for Its Empirical Application, a general oligopoly model is developed that is suitable for empirical research where the data set contains firm-level data on prices, quantities and costs. This model makes it possible to gauge empirically observed prices to a range of game-theoretic equilibrium prices that are analytically deducted. It also allows for precise calculations of welfare effects from non-competitive pricing.In the second essay, Do Swedish Banks Enjoy Economies of Scale or Economies of Scope?, the extent of production economies on the cost side in the five big Swedish banks are investigated. This essay complements the empirical study of Swedish banking by, inter alia, estimating a cost function that includes not only operating costs, but also opportunity costs of equity capital. Results imply small dis-economies of scope between deposits and loans for the banks, as well as slightly negative economies of scale.In the third essay, Testing for Market Power in the Swedish Banking Oligopoly, the model in the first essay is developed into a banking context, allowing for the inherent multi-product characteristic in that industry. In the empirical part, results show that there was significant market power in both the loan market and the deposit market, although with a strongly time-varying pattern. The overall picture of conduct, is that pricing policies were less competitive in the deposit market. The economic cost level consitutes a bottom level for pricing in the loan market and attempts to establish higher spreads are not sustainable in the long run. Finally, welfare losses to the society from non-competitive pricing of loans and deposits are calculated to be ca 1.1% of GDP as a yearly average during the sampling period. The combined results of the empirical analyses in the second and third essays, indicate that there are no cost-side arguments for the many mergers and acquisitions that have taken place in the industry proper, and that small, specialised banking institutions might be competitively viable.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
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Utbildningens fostrande funktioner : Historiska undersökningar av fostran i offentliga och enskilda utbildningsinsatser
- 2022
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Fostran som ett sätt att överföra kunskap och erfarenheter över generationer är något som kan sägas ha varit ständigt närvarande i mänsklighetens historia och även varit en viktig del av dess utveckling. Under de senaste århundradena har fostran i allt högre grad kommit att förknippas med utbildning även om fostran också förekommer i andra sammanhang.I denna bok behandlas utbildningens fostrande funktioner genom en rad olika historiska undersökningar av såväl offentliga som enskilda utbildningsinsatser med fokus på hur de fungerat fostrande. Detta sker inom ramen för tolv empiriska kapitel som sträcker sig från 1600-talets fostran för svenska adelspojkar till hur användningen av diagram över politiska positioner i läromedel förändrats fram till och med 2010-talet. Vidare innehåller boken en rad undersökningar vilka omfattar synen på fostran vid läroverken och dess föregångare samt studier av lärare, kristendomsundervisning, skolaga, fångvård, verksamhet för arbetarkvinnor, scouter, skolans ordningsregler och medborgarfostran vid tiden för 1980 års läroplansreform. Därutöver inleds den med en introduktion till historiska studier av fostran och avslutas med ett mer teoretiskt kapitel som sätter in de empiriska kapitlen i ett vidare sammanhang.Dessutom ger boken också en översikt över den forskning som för tillfället bedrivs inom ramen för forskningsgruppen Uppsala Studies of History and Education (SHED) vid Uppsala universitet. Därigenom är den tänkt att vara av intresse för både utbildningshistoriska forskare och personer med ett mer allmänt intresse av historia och utbildning.
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| 10. |
- Ågren, Henrik, 1968-
(författare)
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Tidigmodern tid : Den sociala tidens roll i fyra lokalsamhällen 1650-1730
- 1998
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation examines how time-reckoning was used in Swedish courts in the early modem period. The theoretical foundation is that the need for people to coordinate in time becomes more important the larger and more complicated the social context is. Therefore, it is more important that one part in a communication is clear in its indication of time the less the other part shares its everyday life. A time-indication is formed by the situation of both sender and receiver, within the context of a society's system of measuring time.During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, contacts between local communities and central state institutions intensified through the state's increasing demands of influence over local authorities.Thereby, a situation arose in which it became more important for ordinary courts to be careful in theirrecord keeping with, among other things, time-reckoning. Terms for time are also formed by the context in which they are reckoned. As life is different in different types of local communities, there are also differences in the use of time in different courts. Therefore, the empirical study is a comparison of the Lagunda district court, the Uppsala city courts, and the Sala mining court, circa 1650 and circa 1730. Lagunda represents a rural environment, while Uppsala represents a preindustrial urban area. Sala silver mine is included in the study as an industrial environment. Also, the city courts of Sala have been studied to gain perspective on the comparison between Uppsala and Sala silver mine.The results show that both the chronological differences and differences in areas of investigation were important. During the 1730's, all courts were considerably more careful in time-reckoning than they had been in the 1650's. Also, the similarities between the areas were greater, which must be seen as a result of the fact that time-reckoning primarily was made for the sake of the central institution towhich the records were to be sent. The more interactive the state, the greater the precision of courtrecords and uniformity of local communities. The time-indications used are thus more a reflection ofthe need for understanding in communication between separate institutions than of organisation in thelocal community.The manifest differences between the areas are that while time in Lagunda and at Sala silver mine in different ways reflected the areas' economic foundation, time-reckoning in the towns was of a more varied nature. The results for the towns of Sala and Uppsala are more similar than those of the townof Sala and Sala silver mine, although the selection of people was practically the same at the mine andin the town. This indicates that the environment and the type of court played a greater role in deter-mining which results we obtain, than did the people's own concept of time. However, there were somesimilarities between the town of Sala and the silver mine. Therefore, one cannot rule out that the results also reflect peoples' relation to time, irrespective of the situation they are in.
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