| 1. |
- Baum, Christopher F., et al.
(författare)
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Estimating the wage premia of refugee immigrants : Lessons from Sweden
- 2024
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper examines the wage earnings of fully-employed refugee immigrants in Sweden. Using administrative employer-employee data from 1990 and onwards, about 100,000 refugee immigrants who arrived between 1980 and 1996 and were granted asylum are compared to a matched sample of native-born workers. Employing recentered influence function (RIF) quantile regressions for the period 2011–2015 to wage earnings, the occupational task-based Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach shows that refugees perform better than natives at the median wage, controlling for individual and firm characteristics. This overperformance is due to female refugee immigrants, who have higher wages than comparable native-born female peers up to the 8th decile of the wage distribution. Refugee immigrant females perform better than native females across all occupational tasks studied, including non-routine cognitive tasks. A remarkable similarity exists in the relative wage distributions among various refugee groups, suggesting that cultural differences and the length of time spent in the host country do not significantly affect their labor market performance.
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| 2. |
- Lööf, Hans, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Incorporating ESG into Optimal Stock Portfolios for the Global Timber & Forestry Industry
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Forest Economics. - : Now Publishers Inc.. - 1104-6899 .- 1618-1530. ; 38:2, s. 133-157
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper investigates how optimal portfolios of timber & forestry stocks perform relative to the global S&P timber & forestry index when corporate social responsibility (CSR) is considered. We incorporate CSR in the construction of optimal portfolios by utilizing combined environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores. Historical as well as copula-augmented predictive models and ESG-constrained optimization are used to analyze out-of-sample performance of various portfolio strategies over the period 2018–2021. The results of copula-based portfolio strategies are better than of the historical models. Another insight gained by this study is that socially responsible investments in forestry stocks are feasible without sacrificing risk-adjusted returns.
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| 3. |
- Ridderstedt, Ivan, 1990-
(författare)
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Improving the Efficiency of Public Procurement : Empirical evidence using micro-level contract data
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Among OECD countries, close to one-third of government expenditure is allocated using public procurement. This implies that the skill of public authorities in handling the procurement format has a significant impact on how much the public sector accomplish in relation to their goals and responsibilities. The aim of this thesis is to provide new insights into how public procurers can achieve more for the money by improving the design of their auctions and contracts. Specifically, the thesis examines how the efficiency can be influenced by the following three aspects: the method of bid evaluation (the award mechanism), whether items are procured separately or grouped into larger contracts, and variations among procurers in the activities and quantities they specify in a given case.The thesis includes four essays that analyze detailed contract information from Swedish procurements of road reinvestments and public bus services. For a comprehensive sample of the examined contracts, information has been collected from procurement documents and compiled into rich microdata sets. The use of microdata has enabled detailed reviews of how the procurements have been designed as well as statistical analysis of associations between the procurer’s choices and the outcome. While the essays primarily focus on results and implications regarding their respective research questions, the kappa provides a more general discussion about quantitative microanalysis in the field of procurement. This reflects a complementary aim of the thesis, which is to contribute to well-informed decisions regarding whether and how contracting authorities should facilitate analyses of this kind.Two of the essays investigate to what extent and how the Swedish national infrastructure manager Trafikverket can improve its efficiency in procurements of highway pavement replacement. Trafikverket spends approximately EUR 200 million on these works annually. Hence, if better procurement methods could lower the cost by 5% without reducing the quality, about EUR 10 million would be freed up annually for additional road maintenance or other uses. Both essays indicate that even greater efficiency gains can be achieved through improved dissemination of best practices. The results support Trafikverket's policy to bundle similar and adjacent road work but imply that the contracts are generally not large enough to fully benefit from the economies of scale. A conclusion is that it is motivated for Trafikverket to consider the scope for efficient bundling when deciding on the timing of these pavement replacement measures.The other two essays examine how the Swedish regional Public Transport Authorities (PTAs) have implemented the scoring rule award mechanism and its efficiency. This alternative to the lowest price and quality-only mechanisms is promoted within the EU procurement directive and is dominant in many countries. However, the literature on how well public agencies implement this policy is scarce and fragmented. One of the essays shows that scoring rules are common in Swedish procurements of public bus services, but also that there are significant differences between the PTAs in whether and how they have applied this award mechanism. Several implementations have unsound and likely unintended properties, in the light of economic theory. The findings suggest that best practices are not spread effectively between the organizations. The second essay on this theme exploits the property that one PTA alternated between lowest price and a performance focused variant of scoring rules and, equally important, could provide data on a relevant and reliable outcome measure. Based on 30 months of observations on monitored punctuality, performance is not found to be better in contracts awarded using scoring rules. The results suggest that the promotion of scoring rules is not accompanied with adequate guidance on when and how to implement it efficiently.The kappa highlights how microdata at the contract level enable research that considers both the ‘uniqueness’ of each procurement and random variation. In the analyses of road reinvestments, the detailed data allows us to consider several important characteristics of the contracts and the treated road segments. Similarly, the analysis of bus punctuality considers several aspects of the traffic assignment. In this way, quantitative microanalysis can provide reliable quantifications of how costs and quality are affected by both the procurer's actions, while considering the external conditions. Many of these associations are too complex to be reliably assessed by an individual civil servant, even if it is highly knowledgeable and experienced. However, the thesis emphasizes that even quantitative analysis can yield misleading results if the data material is not good enough, for example, if the sample is too small or relevant aspects are not captured.A central argument in the thesis is that the standardized and rigid procurement process creates particularly excellent conditions for collecting useful procurement data. However, the potential for this has largely remained untapped by the public agencies themselves. Instead, these data have primarily been compiled within individual research projects, where even the collection of tendering documents has been a notorious obstacle. In Sweden, Trafikverket's information management and cost control have repeatedly been criticized. However, Trafikverket is far from the ‘worst in class’ in these matters, and the criticism mainly reflects the agency's position as one of Sweden's largest procurers. An overall conclusion of the thesis is that public agencies in general should take a more active role in improving how procurement data are collected and managed. Of particular importance is the establishment of well-structured archiving processes for procurement documents, along with systems to track changes in both costs and content after a contract is awarded. For smaller authorities, it is reasonable that this development is coordinated or driven by a centralized function, whereas Trafikverket is well positioned to take a leading role in finding and disseminating best practices. Ultimately, the responsibility for instructing and overseeing improvements in this area lies with the governing bodies of the public agencies, given that the agencies do not set their own agendas.
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| 4. |
- Viklund Ros, Ingrid, 1988-
(författare)
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Exploring the links between knowledge spillovers, trade, productivity, and innovation
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four papers which consider internal and external determinants of innovation, productivity, or export at the firm level sing matched panel data from various national and international databases.In the first paper, we examine a universal set of Swedish employer-employee panel data for the period 2000-2014. There is evidence for spillover from exporters to almost 1,300 non-exporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through outside board directors. The identification strategy to account for endogenous selection of external board members relies on external instruments and applications of different instrumental variable approaches, which capture also unobserved heterogeneity. Our findings are robust to controlling for export background among managers and employees, as well as firm size, human capital, total factor productivity, productivity spillovers, firm location, and industry classification.The second paper investigates whether board directors interlocked with or employed by innovative firms affect start-up firms’ propensity to be innovators themselves. Drawing upon a sample of more than 50,000 Swedish start-up firms, we find that board connections to incumbent innovators have a causal impact on the new firms’ probability to apply for patents. The results are robust when controlling for industry, geography, and firm age as well as spillovers through worker and managerial mobility, external knowledge sourcing through patent disclosure, access to venture capital, and board attributes.The third paper examines the impact of offshoring on patenting and total factor productivity using a panel of 7,000 mainly small Swedish manufacturing firms over the period 2001-2014. We apply the United Nations Broad Economic Categories (BEC) system to identify offshoring-related intermediate imports. The results show that the link between offshoring and innovation as well as productivity is largely explained by self-selection and reverse causality. We find a positive but statistically weak impact of offshoring on innovation, and no effect on productivity.The fourth paper examines solar innovation drivers in a panel of firms seeking energy patents across 12 European countries. Using 26-year micro and macro observations plus a 10-year pre-sample, it finds a strong link between electricity prices and solar photovoltaic patents. For a sample of 108 unique firms from the 12 European countries, Poisson estimates are insignificant for public policies like feed-in tariffs, investments, subsidies, and support. Positive spillover from solar and wind patent stocks and negative impact from fossil energy patents are found. Studying 226 firms located outside of the 12 European countries, the results suggest that European feed-in tariffs and public solar investments increase the propensity for patent protection within the 12 European countries.
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| 5. |
- Baum, Christopher F., et al.
(författare)
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Innovation by start-up firms : The role of the board of directors for knowledge spillovers
- 2022
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Ingår i: Research Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-7333 .- 1873-7625. ; 51:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper investigates whether board directors interlocked with or employed by innovative firms affect startup firms' propensity to be innovators themselves. Drawing upon a sample of more than 50,000 Swedish start-up firms, we find that board connections to incumbent innovators have a causal impact on the new firms' probability to apply for patents. The results are robust when controlling for industry, geography, firm age, as well as spillovers through worker and managerial mobility, external knowledge sourcing through patent disclosure, access to venture capital and board attributes.
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| 6. |
- Baum, Christopher, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of offshoring on technical change : Evidence from Swedish manufacturing firms
- 2022
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Ingår i: Review of International Economics. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0965-7576 .- 1467-9396. ; 30:3, s. 796-818
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper examines the link between offshoring and technical change measured by patent and total factor productivity in order to sort out the causality. It applies instrumental variable and matching approaches on a panel of more than 7000 Swedish manufacturing firms over the period 2001?2014, and identify offshoring-related intermediate imports by the United Nations Broad Economic Categories system. Accounting for self-selection and reverse causality, no impact of offshoring on TFP is found and only weak effect on patenting.
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| 7. |
- Finnveden, Göran, et al.
(författare)
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Gruva i Kallak ingen hjälp för klimatet
- 2022
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Ingår i: Svenska Dagbladet. - : Hb Svenska dagbladets AB & Co. - 1101-2412.
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Den nödvändiga gruvbrytningen bör koncentreras tillområden där den gör störst nytta för klimatet och minst skadaför människor och miljö. Kallak är inget sådant område.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Lööf, Hans, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Is Corporate Social Responsibility investing a free lunch? : The relationship between ESG, tail risk, and upside potential of stocks before and during the COVID-19 crisis
- 2022
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Ingår i: Finance Research Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 1544-6123 .- 1544-6131. ; 46, s. 102499-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Did Corporate Social Responsibility investing benefit shareholders during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis? Distinguishing between downside tail risk and upside reward potential of stock returns, we provide evidence from 5,073 stocks listed on stock markets in ten countries. The findings suggest that better ESG ratings are associated with lower downside risk, but also with lower upside return potential. Thus, ESG ratings helped investors to reduce their risk exposure to the market turmoil caused by the pandemic, while maintaining the fundamental trade-off between risk and reward.
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| 10. |
- Lööf, Hans, 1961-
(författare)
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What prevents spillovers from the pool of knowledge?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Elgar Encyclopedia on the Economics of Knowledge and Innovation. - : Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.. ; , s. 528-537
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This chapter surveys theoretical and empirical literature on non-pecuniary flow of knowledge and the conditions and limitations for firms to ben- efit from positive externalities. Spillovers from the pool of accumulated knowledge generated by technological and scientific development is con- sidered to be a key factor for economic development in modern growth models. Knowledge spillovers has also been a major topic of empirical research on firms' innovation and economic performance over the last thirty years or more. By exploiting theoretical and methodological advances, and using more comprehensive, complex and detailed data sources, scholars from various scientific disciplines have improved the identification of factors, mechanisms, and channels that influence flows of knowledge within and across industries, technological regimes and regions. This research has deepened the understanding of the economic importance of knowledge spillovers.
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