| 1. |
- Vega, Alejandro, 1986-
(författare)
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Essays on health, labor market behavior, and economic incentives
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Paper [1] analyzes how the labor force participation changes in response to major health shocks, such as new cancer diagnoses, heart attacks, and strokes, in middle-aged to elderly Mexican couples, and how the spouses interact in their responses. The data originates from the Mexican Health and Aging Study and provides information on how couples coordinate their labor market activities in response to major health shocks. The results show that women’s labor force participation is negatively affected by a major health shock to their husbands. In contrast, men’s labor force participation does not change significantly in response to a major health shock to their wives.Paper [2] focuses on the correlation between negative health shocks and the households’ share of wealth held in risky assets. By using U.S. data from the Health and Retirement Study, we try to establish a link between negative health shocks and financial outcomes such as the household’s probability of owning risky assets and the share of risky assets held. We define a recent negative health shock to include cancer or malignant tumour diagnoses, stroke or transient ischemic attack, heart attack, coronary heart disease, angina, congestive heart failure, or other heart problems. We find tha tthe probability of owning risky assets and the share of risky assets are significantly lower among households where the women has experienced a negative health shock. In contrast, neither thep robability of owning risky assets nor the share of risky assets held by the household are significantly associated with a negative health shock to the man.Paper [3] investigates whether job loss can cause symptoms of depression in later life. We focus on couples aged 50 or older. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study, which provides longitudinal information about changes in labor market status and mental health outcomes among respondents and their spouses in the United States. To deal with potential reverse causality problems, we utilize data on job loss resulting from business closures. We find that job loss can lead to depressive symptoms for the affected individual’s partner. The effects are gendered, as women are negatively affected by job losses experienced by their husbands, but we do not observe such harmful effects among men whose wives lose their jobs. We also show how the effects of job loss vary across couples with differing levels of economic resources and health care needs, as well as differential access tohealth care.Paper [4] estimates the labor supply response to an increase in the marginal wage rate among middle-aged to elderly Mexican women. Using data from the National Survey of Occupation and Employment, I find that an increase in the marginal wage rate is associated with an increase in worked hours. The results suggest that the marginal wage rate elasticities are larger for older women than for their younger counterparts.
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| 2. |
- Selander, Carina, 1970-
(författare)
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Chartist trading in exchange rate theory
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four papers, of which paper 1 and 4 are co-written with Mikael Bask. Paper [1] implements chartists trading in a sticky-price monetary model for determining the exchange rate. It is demonstrated that chartists cause the exchange rate to "overshoot the overshooting equilibrium" of a sticky-price monetary model. Chartists base their trading on a short-long moving average. The importance of technical trading depends inversely on the time horizon in currency trade. The exchange rate's perfect foresight path near long-run equilibrium is derived and it is demonstrated that the shorter the time horizon, the greater the exchange rate overshooting. The aim of Paper [2] is to see how the dynamics of the basic target zone model changes when chartists and fundamentalists are introduced. Chartists use technical trading and the relative importance of technical and fundamental analyses depend on the time horizon in currency trade. The model also includes realignment expectations, which increase with the weight of chartists. The introduction of chartists may significantly reduce and reverse, the so-called "honeymoon effect" of a fully credible target zone. Further, chartists may cause the correlation between the exchange rate and the instantaneous interest rate differential to become either positive or negative. Using a chartist-fundamentalist set-up, Paper [3] derives the effects on the current exchange rate of central bank intervention. Fundamentalists have rational expectations and chartists use so called support and resistance levels in their trading. This technique results in chartists having both bandwagon expectations and regressive expectations. Chartists may enhance or suppress the effect of intervention depending on their expectations. The results indicate that a chartist channel exists. The aim of Paper [4] is threefold; (i) to investigate if there is a unique rational expectations equilibrium (REE) in a new Keynesian macroeconomic model augmented with technical trading, (ii), to investigate if the unique REE is adaptively learnable and, (iii), to investigate if this unique and adaptively learnable REE is desirable in an inflation rate targeting regime. The monetary authority is using a Taylor rule when setting the interest rate. A main conclusion is that a robust Taylor rule implies that the monetary authority should increase (decrease) the interest rate when the CPI inflation rate increases (decreases) and when the currency gets stronger (weaker).
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Amjadi, Golnaz, 1982-
(författare)
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Essays on energy efficiency, environmental regulation and labor demand in Swedish industry
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Paper [I] Energy efficiency improvement (EEI) benefits the climate and matters for energy security. The potential emission and energy savings due to EEI may however not fully materialize due to the rebound effect. In this study, we measure the size of the rebound effect for fuel and electricity within the four most energy intensive sectors in Sweden: Pulp and paper, Basic iron and steel, Chemical, and Mining. We use a detailed firm-level panel data set for 2000–2008 and apply a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) for measuring the rebound effect. We find that neither fuel nor electricity rebound effects fully offset the potential energy and emission savings. Among the determinants, we find the CO2 intensity and the fuel/electricity shares to be useful indicators for identifying firms with higher or lower rebound effects within each sector.Paper [II] Energy efficiency improvement (EEI) is generally known to be a cost-effective measure for meeting energy, climate and sustainable growth targets. Unfortunately, behavioral responses to such improvements (called energy rebound effects) may reduce the expected savings in emissions and energy from EEI. Hence, the size of this effect should be considered to help set realistic energy and climate targets. Currently there are significant differences in approaches for measuring rebound effect. Here, we used a two-step procedure to measure both short- and long-term energy rebound effects in the Swedish manufacturing industry. In the first step, we used data envelopment analysis (DEA) to obtain energy efficiency scores. In the second step, we estimated energy rebound effects using a dynamic panel regression model. This approach was applied to a firm-level panel dataset covering all 14 sectors in the Swedish manufacturing industry over the period 1997–2008. We showed that, in the short run, partial rebound effects exist within most of manufacturing sectors, meaning that the rebound effect decreased, but did not totally offset, the energy and emission savings expected from EEI. The long-term rebound effect was smaller than the short-term effect, implying that within each sector, energy and emission savings due to EEI are larger in the long run compared to the short run.Paper [III] Energy inefficiency in production implies that the same level of goods and services could be produced using less energy. The potential energy inefficiency of a firm may be linked to long-term structural rigidities in the production process and/or systematic shortcomings in management (persistent inefficiency), or associated with temporary issues like misallocation of resources (transient inefficiency). Eliminating or mitigating different inefficiencies may require different policy measures. Studies measuring industrial energy inefficiency have mostly focused on overall inefficiencies and have paid little attention to distinctions between the types. The aim of this study was to assess whether energy inefficiency is transient and/or persistent in the Swedish manufacturing industry. I used a firm-level panel dataset covering fourteen industrial sectors from 1997–2008 and estimated a stochastic energy demand frontier model. The model included a four-component error term separating persistent and transient inefficiency from unobserved heterogeneity and random noise. I found that both transient and persistent energy inefficiencies exist in most sectors of the Swedish manufacturing industry. Overall, persistent energy inefficiency was larger than transient, but varied considerably in different manufacturing sectors. The results suggest that, generally, energy inefficiencies in the Swedish manufacturing industry were related to structural rigidities connected to technology and/or management practices.Paper [IV] The aim of this paper was to investigate whether the environment and employment compete with each other in Swedish manufacturing industry. The effect of a marginal increase in environmental expenditure and environmental investment costs on sector-level demand for labor (employment) was studied using a detailed firm-level panel dataset for the period 2001–2008. The results showed that the sign and magnitude of the net employment effects ultimately depend on the aggregate sector-level output demand elasticity. If the output demand is inelastic, these costs induce small net improvements in employment, while a more elastic output demand suggests negative, but in most sectors relatively small, net effects on demand for labor. Hence, the results did not generally indicate a substantial trade-off between jobs and the environment. The general policy recommendation that can be drawn from this study is that, in the absence of empirically estimated output demand elasticities, a careful attitude regarding national environmental initiatives for sectors exposed to world market competition should be adopted.
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| 5. |
- Andersson, Camilla, 1979-
(författare)
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Can a social safety net affect farmers crop portfolios? A study of the productive safety net programme in Ethiopia.
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper, we examine whether a minimum level of ensured consumption from a social safety net has the potential of breaking the vicious circle of risk avoidance and low return in African agriculture. We study how the implementation of a social safety net programme in Ethiopia has affected the value, risk and composition of farmers’ crop portfolios. The effects of programme participation on the value and risk of the crop portfolio are examined in a Just-Pope production function, and the effects of programme participation on composition of the crop portfolio are tested in a set of acreage response models. The empirical analysis is based on unique household panel data that allow us to control for unobserved heterogeneity. No significant effect on the value and risk of the crop portfolio could be found. However, the programme seems to have brought about some changes in the land allocated to different crops. The greatest effect is towards increased cultivation of perennials, which are high-value, high-risk crops in this part of Ethiopia.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Camilla, 1979-
(författare)
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Changing the risk at the margin : Smallholder farming and public policy in developing countries
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of a summary and four self-contained papers. Paper [I] examines whether the implementation of a social safety net programme in Ethiopia has affected the value, risk and composition of farmers‟ crop portfolios. The empirical analysis suggests that the value and risk of the crop portfolio have not been altered due to the programme. However, the programme seems to have brought about some changes in the land allocated to different crops. Paper [II] studies how a social safety net affects farmers‟ (dis)investments in productive assets. More specifically, it studies how the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia has changed livestock and tree holdings. The results indicate no significant effect on livestock holdings, but a significant increase in tree holdings. Paper [III] investigates if there is a problem of adverse selection in formal microlending in rural Bangladesh. The results indicate that farmers who only borrow formally have a shadow price of capital that is substantially higher than the average informal interest rate. This suggests that farmers that only borrow formally are perceived as poor credit risks by informal lenders. Paper [IV] explores the economic incentives surrounding the cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan. Specifically, it examines the impact of eradication policies when opium is used as a means of obtaining credit, and when the crops are produced in sharecropping arrangements. The results indicate that both these features are likely to affect the outcome of eradication policies.
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| 7. |
- Andersson, Camilla, 1979-
(författare)
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Counterproductive counternarcotic strategies? A study of the effects of opium eradication in the presence of imperfect capital markets and sharecropping arrangements.
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper, we model the economic incentives surrounding opium crop production at farm level in Afghanistan. Specifically, we examine the impact of eradication policies when opium is used as a means of obtaining credit, and when the crops are produced in sharecropping arrangements. The theoretical analysis suggests that when perfect credit markets are available, an increased risk of having the opium poppy eradicated will lead to less land being allocated to opium poppy. Thus, with perfect credit markets, the eradication policy is likely to have the intended effect of lowering opium crop production. However, when opium is sold on futures markets as a means of obtaining credit, the effects of opium eradication are no longer clear-cut: in some cases the outcome may actually increase the land allocated to opium poppy. Finally, the results indicate that when opium is produced in sharecropping arrangements, increased risk of opium eradication will unambiguously make the tenants worse off, while landlords may actually benefit.
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| 8. |
- Andrén, Daniela, et al.
(författare)
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'Waiting for the other shoe to drop' : waiting for health care and duration of sick leave
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper uses a labor supply model that incorporates waiting for health care to derive an empirical specification for sick leave and to estimate the impact of waiting for health care on the duration of sick leave. In the estimations, we use the 2002 sample of the RFV-LS register database, supplemented with information from questionnaires. The results indicate that almost all waiting for health care variables have a statistically significant positive impact on the duration of sick leave, and did not induce substantial changes on the impact of traditional variables of the labor supply model.
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| 9. |
- Ankarhem, Mattias, 1971-
(författare)
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Bioenergy, pollution, and economic growth
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four papers: two of them deal with the effects on the forest sector of an increase in the demand for forest fuels, and two of them concern the relation between economic growth and pollution. Paper [I] is a first, preliminary study of the potential effects on the Swedish forest sector of a continuing rise in the use of forest resources as a fuel in energy generation. Sweden has made a commitment that the energy system should be sustainable, i.e., it should be based on renewable resources. However, an increasing use of the forest resources as an energy input could have effects outside the energy sector. We consider this in a static model by estimating a system of demand and supply equations for the four main actors on the Swedish roundwood market; forestry, sawmills, pulpmills and the energy sector. We then calculate the industries' short run supply and demand elasticities. Paper [II], is a development of the former paper. In this paper, we estimate the dynamic effects on the forest sector of an increased demand for forest fuels. This is done by developing a partial adjustment model of the forest sector that enables short, intermediate, and long run price elasticities to be estimated. It is relevant to study the effects of increased demand for forest fuels as the Swedish government has committed to an energy policy that is likely to further increase the use of renewable resources in the Swedish energy system. Four subsectors are included in the model: forestry, sawmills, pulpmills and the energy industry. The results show that the short run elasticities are fairly consistent with earlier studies and that sluggish adjustment in the capital stock is important in determining the intermediate and long run responses. Simulation shows that an increase in the demand for forest fuels has a positive effect on the equilibrium price of all three types of wood, and a negative effect on the equilibrium quantities of sawtimber and pulpwood. In paper [III] a Shephard distance function approach is used to estimate time series of shadow prices for Swedish emissions of CO2, SO2, and VOC for the period 1918 - 1994. The shadow prices are in a next step regressed on GDP per capita. The objective of the study is closely linked to hypothesis of environmental Kuznets curves. We conclude that the time series of the shadow prices from this approach can not be used to explain the EKCs found for Swedish emissions. In paper [IV], we calculate time series of shadow prices for Swedish emissions of CO2, SO2, and VOC for the period 1918 - 1994. The shadow prices are in a next step related to income, to explain the EKCs previously found for Swedish data on the three emissions. Newly constructed historical emission time series enable studying a single country's emission paths through increasing levels of economic activity. A directional distance function approach is used to estimate the industry's production process in order to calculate the opportunity costs of a reduction in the emissions. The time series of the shadow prices show support for EKCs for the Swedish industry.
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| 10. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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A Note on Optimal Taxation, Status Consumption, and Unemployment
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Existing research on optimal taxation in economies with status-driven relative consumption assumes that the labor market is competitive, despite the fact that real world labor markets are typically characterized by involuntary unemployment. We show how the marginal tax policy ought to be modified to simultaneously account for positional consumption externalities and equilibrium unemployment, and find that interaction effects between these two market failures are crucial determinants of the marginal tax structure. In certain cases, the policy incentive to tax away positional externalities vanishes completely, and negative positional externalities may even lead to lower marginal taxation, under involuntary unemployment.
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| 11. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Adaptation, Anticipation-Bias and Optimal Income Taxation
- 2012
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Adaptation is omnipresent but people systematically fail to correctly anticipate the degree to which they adapt. This leads individuals to make inefficient intertemporal decisions. This paper concerns optimal income taxation to correct for such anticipation-biases in a framework where consumers adapt to earlier consumption levels through a habit-formation process. The analysis is based on a general equilibrium OLG model with endogenous labor supply and savings where each consumer lives for three periods. Our results show how a paternalistic government may correct for the effects of anticipation-bias through a combination of time-variant marginal labor income taxes and savings subsidies. Furthermore, the optimal policy mix remains the same, irrespective of whether consumers commit to their original life-time plan for work hours and savings decided upon in the first period of life or re-optimize later on when realizing the failure to adapt.
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| 12. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Climate change and psychological adaptation : a behavioral environmental economics approach
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Economic models of climate policy (or policies to combat other environmental problems) typically neglect psychological adaptation to changing life circumstances. People may adapt or become more sensitive, to different degrees, to a deteriorated environment. The present paper addresses these issues in a simple model of tax policy to combat climate change and elaborates on the consequences for optimal climate policies, and argues from a normative point of view that psychological adaptation needs to be taken into account by a pure welfarist government, which aims at internalizing an intertemporal externality.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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Does wage bargaining justify environmental policy coordination?
- 2008
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper analyzes the welfare consequences of coordinated tax reforms in an economy where a transboundary environmental externality and an international wage bargaining externality are operative at the same time. We assume that the wage in each country is decided upon in a bargain between trade-unions and firms, and the wage bargaining externality arises because the fall-back profit facing firms depends on the profit they can earn if moving production abroad. Using the noncooperative Nash equilibrium as a reference case, our results imply that the international wage bargaining externality may either reinforce or weaken the welfare gain of a coordinated increase in environmental taxation, depending on (among other things) how the reform affects the wage. For a special case, we also derive an exact condition under which a coordinated increase in the environmental tax leads to higher welfare.
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Habit Formation and the Pareto-Efficient Provision of Public Goods
- 2017
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper examines the implications of habit formation in private and public consumption for the Pareto-efficient provision of public goods, based on a two-period model with nonlinear taxation. If the public good supply is time-invariant, the presence of habit formation generally alters the standard rules for public good provision. In contrast, if the public good is a flow-variable such that the government directly decides on the level of the public good in each period, habit formation leads to a modification of the first best Samuelson condition only if the degrees of habituation differ for private and public consumption. Since habit formation affects the incentives to relax the self-selection constraint through public good provision, however, habituation alters the second-best analogue to the Samuelson condition also when the degrees of habituation in private and public consumption coincide.
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| 17. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Keeping up with the Joneses, the Smiths and the Tanakas : Optimal Income Taxation and RelativeConsumption in a Multi-Country Economy
- 2013
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Recent empirical evidence suggests that between-country social comparisons have become more important over time. This paper analyzes optimal income taxation in a multi-country economy, where consumers derive utility from their relative consumption compared with both other domestic residents and people in other countries. The optimal tax policy in our framework reflects both correction for positional externalities and redistributive aspects of such correction due to the incentive constraint facing each government. If the national governments behave as Nash competitors to one another, the resulting tax policy only internalizes the externalities that are due to within-country comparisons, whereas the tax policy chosen by the leader country in a Stackelberg game also reflects between-country comparisons. We also derive a globally efficient tax structure in a cooperative framework. Nash competition typically implies lower marginal income tax rates than chosen by the leader country in a Stackelberg game, and cooperation typically leads to higher marginal income tax rates than the non-cooperative regimes.
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| 18. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Mixed taxation, public goods and transboundary externalities : a model with large jurisdictions
- 2008
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper concerns income taxation, commodity taxation, production taxation and public good provision in a multi-jurisdiction framework with transboundary environmental damage. We assume that each jurisdiction is large in the sense that its government is able to influence the world-market producer price of the externality-generating commodity. The decision-problem facing the government in each such jurisdiction is represented by a two-type model (with asymmetric information between the government and the private sector). We show how the possibility to influence the world-market producer price adds mechanisms of relevance for redistribution and externality-correction which, in turn, affect the domestic use of taxation and public goods. Finally, with the noncooperative Nash equilibrium as a reference case, we consider the welfare effects of policy coordination.
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| 19. |
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| 20. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Optimal income taxation without tax evasion
- 2023
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper is the first to integrate corruption with respect to tax collection in a Mirrleesian model of optimal redistributive taxation. The analysis starts with a simple two-type model, showing that the optimal marginal tax structure resembles that of the original Stiglitz (1982) model, albeit for different reasons. We also extend the analysis to a framework with many types and present policy rules for marginal taxation over the whole ability distribution. The marginal income tax rates are all non-negative and can be expressed in terms of two key determinants: the distributional weights attached to taxpayers, and how the private cost to evade taxes varies with the taxpayers' income. Finally, we consider the role of government expenditures directly targeting the incentives of the tax collector, such that these public expenditures and the optimal tax structure are implemented simultaneously.
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| 21. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Optimal Redistributive Income Taxation and Efficiency Wages
- 2017
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper integrates efficiency wage setting in the theory of optimal redistributive income taxation. In doing so, we use a model with two skill-types, where efficiency wage setting characterizes the labor market faced by the low-skilled, whereas the high-skilled face a conventional, competitive labor market. There are two types of jobs in this economy; a low-demanding job which can be carried out by everybody, and a high-demanding job which can only be carried out by the high-skilled, meaning that a potential mimicker may either adopt a conventional income-replication strategy or a job-replication strategy. In this framework, we show that the marginal income tax implemented for the high-skilled is negative under plausible assumptions. The marginal income tax facing the low-skilled can be either positive or negative in general, even if employment-related motives for policy intervention typically contribute to an increase in this marginal tax. An increase in the unemployment benefit contributes to relax the binding self-selection constraint (irrespective of the strategy adopted by a potential mimicker), which makes this instrument particularly useful from the perspective of redistribution.
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| 22. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Optimal tax progression : does it matter whether wage bargaining is decentralized or centralized?
- 2011
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We study how the optimal use of labor income tax progression depends on whether the wage bargaining system is decentralized or centralized. Assuming a nonlinear labor income tax and an unrestricted profit tax, we show that a Utilitarian government is able to implement the first best resource allocation with a zero marginal labor income tax rate under decentralized wage bargaining, whereas centralized bargaining typically implies a progressive tax as well as unemployment. However, if the government and a (central) wage-setter bargain over wage formation and public policy, the resulting equilibrium is characterized by full employment and a zero marginal tax rate.
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| 23. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Optimal taxation and asymmetric information in an economy with second-hand trade
- 2008
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper concerns optimal income and commodity taxation in a two-type overlapping generations model, where used durable goods are traded in a second-hand market. As second-hand transactions are difficult to observe, we assume that the government is unable to directly control second-hand transactions via commodity taxation. A basic question is how the government in this case may use the second-hand market as a channel for relaxation of the self-selection constraint. We show how the appearance of a second-hand market for used durable goods affects the optimal use of labor income and capital income taxation as well as the optimal use of commodity taxation on new durable goods.
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| 24. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Optimal Taxation, Redistribution, and Environmental Externalities
- 2017
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Ingår i: International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics. - : Umeå University. - 1932-1465 .- 1932-1473. ; 11:3, s. 233-308
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper surveys research on optimal redistributive taxation in economies with environmental externalities. A major question is whether externality correction only motivates an adjustment of the tax policy rule for the externality-generating activity, or whether the marginal value of the externality directly enters the policy rules for other tax instruments as well. In a static benchmark model with an atmospheric consumption externality, where the government uses a mix of a nonlinear income tax and linear commodity taxes, we show that Sandmo’s (1975) additivity property applies. This means that externality correction leads to an additional term (measuring the marginal value of the externality) in the commodity tax formula for the externality generating good, while the policy rules for commodity taxation of clean goods and marginal income taxation take the same form as in the absence of any externality. We also extend this benchmark model to capture a number of scenarios (such as non-atmospheric externalities, border trade in the externality generating good, and competition between governments in a multi-country framework), where the additivity property no longer applies. We end by examining an intertemporal model of optimal taxation with a stock-externality, allowing us to integrate the study of optimal redistributive taxation with literature on environmental economics and policy based on dynamic models.
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| 25. |
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| 26. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Positional preferences for housing : income taxation as a second best policy
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper analyzes whether marginal taxation of labor and capital income might be useful second best instruments for internalizing the externalities caused by conspicuous housing consumption, when the government is unable to implement a first best corrective tax on housing wealth. The rationale for studying income taxation in this particular context is that first best taxes on housing wealth may be infeasible (at least in a shorter time perspective), while income taxes indirectly affect both the level and composition of accumulated wealth. We show that a suboptimally low tax on housing wealth provides an incentive for the government to subsidize financial saving and tax labor income at the margin.
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| 27. |
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| 28. |
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| 29. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Publicly provided private goods and optimal taxation when consumers have positional preferences
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper analyzes optimal differential commodity taxation, together with optimal nonlinear income taxation, in order to deal with positional preferences. It also derives the optimal public provision of private goods both when differential commodity taxation is feasible and when it is not. It is shown that publicly provided non-positional private goods which are (possibly imperfect) substitutes for positional private goods should be used as a corrective instrument even if the tax system is optimal, i.e. even when differential commodity taxation is feasible. An exception is the special case where all consumers contribute equally much to the positional externality, in which the commodity tax constitutes a perfect instrument for internalizing the positional externality.
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| 30. |
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| 31. |
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| 32. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Social identity, education and tax policy
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper analyzes the implications of social identity and self-categorization in the context of optimal redistributive income taxation. A two-type model is supplemented by an assumption that individuals select themselves into social categories, in which norms are formed and education effort choices partly depend on these norms. Optimal tax policy is analyzed under two different assumptions about the social objective function: a welfarist objective based on consumer preferences and a paternalist objective that does not reflect the consumer preference for social identity. We show how the welfarist government implements a tax policy to internalize the externalities arising from social norms, while the paternalist government uses tax policy to make individuals behave as if their preferences for social identity were absent.
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| 33. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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State-variable public goods when relative consumption matters : a dynamic optimal taxation approach
- 2011
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper concerns the optimal provision of a state-variable public good, where the global climate is the prime example. The analysis is based on a two-type optimal income tax model with overlapping generations, where people care about their relative consumption. We consider both keeping-up-with-the-Joneses preferences (where people compare their own current consumption with others’ current consumption) and catching-up-with-the-Joneses preferences (where people compare their own current consumption with others’ past consumption). The extent to which the rule for public provision ought to be modified is shown to depend crucially on the preference elicitation format.
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| 34. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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The Quality of the Estimators of the ETI
- 2017
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Measuring the elasticity of taxable income (ETI) is central for tax policy design. Yet, there are few arguments which support or infirm that current methods yield measurements of the ETI that can be trusted. Our first purpose is to use simulation methods to assess the bias and precision of the prevalent methods used in the literature (IV estimation and bunching methods). Thereby, we aim at (i) explaining the huge differences in empirical results, and (ii) providing arguments in favor of or against using these methods. Our second purpose is to suggest indirect inference estimation to improve the quality of the measurement. We find that the IV regression estimators may suffer from considerable bias and be quite imprecise, whereas the bunching estimators perform better in our controlled environment. We also show that using more of the information available in the data, estimators based on indirect inference principles produce more precise estimates of the ETI than any of the most commonly used methods.
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| 35. |
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| 36. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Uncertain length of life, retirement age, and optimal pension design
- 2018
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper, we consider how the hours of work and retirement age ought to respond to a change in the uncertainty of the length of life. In a first best framework, where a benevolent government exercises perfect control over the individuals' labor supply and retirement-decisions, the results show that a decrease in the standard deviation of life-length leads to an increase in the optimal retirement age and a decrease in the hours of work per period spent working. This result is robust, and is also derived in models of decentralized decision-making where individuals decide on their own consumption, labor supply, and retirement age, and where the government attempts to affect their behavior and welfare through redistribution and pension policy.
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| 37. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
-
Veblen’s theory of the leisure class revisited : Implications for optimal income taxation
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Almost all previous studies on public policy under relative consumption concerns have ignored the role of leisure for status comparisons. Inspired by Veblen (1899), this paper considers a two-type optimal income tax model, where people care about their relative consumption, and where the importance of relative consumption increases with the use of leisure due to increased consumption visibility. We show that increased consumption positionality typically implies higher marginal income tax rates for both ability-types. Using a leisure-weighted measure of reference consumption, rather than a measure where leisure plays no role as in the previous literature, increases the marginal income tax rate implemented for the low-ability type and decreases the marginal income tax rate implemented for the high-ability type, i.e., it gives rise to a regressive tax component.
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| 38. |
- Aronsson, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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When Samuelson met Veblen abroad : National and global public goods when social comparisons matter
- 2012
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper derives Pareto efficient policy rules for the provision of national as well as global public goods in a two-country world, where each individual cares about relative consumption within as well as between countries. Furthermore, we compare these policy rules with those that follow from a non-cooperative Nash equilibrium. The results show that both global and national public goods are systematically under-provided in Nash equilibrium under such relative consumption concerns.
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| 39. |
- Batten, David, et al.
(författare)
-
Modelling Commodity Flows on Trade Networks : Retrospect and Prospect
- 1989
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Various approaches to the estimation of commodity flow or trade share matrices across world trade networks are examined. Some serious drawbacks associated with the use of spatial price equilibrium models are identified, and a case is made for combining two or more individual approaches, such as may be found in "dispersed" spatial price equilibrium models or in computable general equilibrium models which cater for spatial heterogeneity. It is found that some variant of the gravity model may be a reliable guide to trade share patterns in the long run, particularly in a world of differentiated products and increasing returns to scale. A conclusive finding is that quite different models ought to be adopted for different commodities (i.e. markets) in the short and medium term perspective.
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| 40. |
- Berck, Peter, et al.
(författare)
-
Regional sorting of human capital : the choice of location among young adults in Sweden
- 2014
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Migration rates are highest among young adults, especially students, and their location choices affect the regional distribution of human capital, growth and local public sector budgets. Using Swedish register data on young adults, the choice of whether to enroll in education and the choice of location are estimated jointly. The results indicate a systematic selection into investment in further education based on school grades and associated preferences for locations with higher per capita tax bases. For students, the estimates indicate lower preferences for locations with higher shares of older people. The importance of family networks for the choice of location is confirmed.
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| 41. |
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| 42. |
- Bergman, Mats, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Public Procurement and Non-contractible Quality : Evidence from Elderly Care
- 2012
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Many quality dimensions are hard to contract upon and are at risk of degradation when the service is procured rather than produced in-house. On the other hand, procurement may foster performance-improving innovation. We assemble a large data set on elderly care services in Sweden for the 1990-2009 period, including survival rates, our measure of non-contractible quality, and indicators of subjectively perceived quality of service. We estimate the effects of municipalities’ decision to procure rather than produce in-house on non-contractible quality using a difference-in-difference approach and controlling for a number of other potential determinants. The results indicate that procurement significantly increases non-contractible quality as measured by survival rate, reduces the cost per resident but does not affect subjectively perceived quality.
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| 43. |
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| 44. |
- Bergman, Mats, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Strategic investments in the pulp and paper industry : a count data regression analysis
- 2000
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The effects of price and market size variables on the investment propensities in the pulp and paper industry are analyzed. A panel of 15 European countries for the time period 1984 - 1997 is used in the regression analysis. We find that the wages, the $US/ECU$ exchange rate, the price of paper and the installed production capacity are the main determinants of strategic investments in this industry. There are no - or only very small - effects from our measures of market size.
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| 45. |
- Bergman, Mats, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Tendering Design when Price and Quality Is Uncertain : Theory and Evidence from Public Procurement
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Departing from a simple normative theory for the choice between lowest price, highest quality (beauty contest) and more complex scoring rules, we empirically investigate the behavior of local and central authorities. We survey a gross sample of 40 contracting entities about perceived key characteristics of products bought in 651 public procurements and collect data on supplier selection methods for these procurements. We compare actual scoring rules with theoretical norms and analyze what product characteristics make deviation from the norm more or less likely. In addition, a control group of 275 authorities was surveyed about similar but hypothetical procurements. We find that more complex scoring rules are used more often when the authority is uncertain about costs and about delivered quality, in accordance with our hypotheses. However, authority effects are also found to directly and indirectly influence the choice of supplier-selection method, suggesting that tendering design is partially driven by local habits or institutional inertia.
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| 46. |
- Birkelöf, Lena, 1970-
(författare)
-
Do local public expenditures on functionally impaired crowd out other local public expenditures?
- 2009
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper examines whether local public expenditures on services to functionally impaired individuals crowd out other local public expenditures in Sweden. Over the last ten years, these expenditures have increased by more than 90 percent while other municipal expenditures have experienced increases of up to 30 percent. The impact of expenditures on functionally impaired individuals is tested on five different spending areas using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) fixed-effects model. While the results give no support for crowding out in the areas of social assistance, culture & leisure, and childcare & preschool, a negative relationship on spending for elderly & disabled care and education is found, suggesting that crowding out indeed occurs within the municipal sector. The negative relationships are significant both in a statistical and an economic sense.
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| 47. |
- Birkelöf, Lena, 1970-
(författare)
-
Intergovernmental grants and local public expenditure decision : Interaction due to information spillover
- 2009
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Rapport (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- This empirical study takes advantage of a new intergovernmental grant in order to investigate the expenditure behavior of the municipalities in Sweden in two ways. First, the grant is used to study the effect on municipal spending related to the grant. Second, the grant is used to test a hypothesis of spatial interaction among municipalities due to mimicking behavior. The grant and expenditures studied here pertain to one specific service area of the Swedish municipalities; services to functionally impaired individuals. The grant was introduced in 2004. The data used pertains to the period before (2001-2003) and after (2004-2007) the introduction of the grant. A fixed-effects spatial lag model is used to study the (possible) spatial interactions among municipalities. Interestingly, the results show that during the first time period, the municipalities interact with their neighbors when setting the expenditure level, possibly due to mimicking. In the second time period, after the introduction of the grant, there is no evidence of interaction. This would support the hypothesis that the governmental grants provide information to the municipalities and the need for mimicking diminishes with the grant.
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| 48. |
- Birkelöf, Lena, 1970-
(författare)
-
Spatial interaction and local government expenditures for functionally impaired in Sweden
- 2009
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis consists of an introductory part and three self-contained papers. Paper [I] studies the determinants of the differences in expenditure on services for functionally impaired individuals among municipalities in Sweden. A spatial autoregressive model is used in order to test whether the decisions on the expenditure level in a neighboring municipality affect the municipality’s own expenditure. The results show of spatial interaction among neighbors, possible due to mimicking. However, when controlling for differences among counties there is no evidence of spatial interaction. Therefore, the positive interaction first found can be interpreted either as a result of differences in the way county councils diagnose individuals or due to interaction among the neighbors in the same county. Paper [II] takes advantage of a new intergovernmental grant in two ways. First, the grant is used to study the effect on municipal spending related to the grant. Second, the grant is used to test a hypothesis of spatial interaction among municipalities due to mimicking behavior. The data used pertains to the periods before and after the introduction of the grant. A fixed-effects spatial lag model is used to study the spatial interactions among municipalities. The results show that before the grant, municipalities interact with their neighbors when setting the expenditure level, while there is no evidence of interaction in the second period. This would support the hypothesis that the grants provide information to the municipalities and the need for mimicking diminishes with the grant. Paper [III] examines whether local public expenditures on services to functionally impaired individuals crowd out other local public expenditures in Sweden. The hypothesis is tested on five different spending areas using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) fixed-effects model. While the results give no support for crowding out in the areas of social assistance, culture & leisure, and childcare & preschool, a negative relationship on spending for elderly & disabled care and on spending for education is found, suggesting that crowding out indeed occurs within the municipal sector. The negative relationships are significant both in a statistical and an economic sense.
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| 49. |
- Broberg, Thomas, 1979-
(författare)
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The value of preserving nature : Preference uncertainty and distributional effects
- 2007
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis deals with valuation of nonmarket goods using contingent valuation and consists of four papers and an introduction to the research area. Paper [I] examines the public benefits from preserving old-growth forest in the sub-mountainous region in Sweden. Specifically, it analyzes a preservation program suggested by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The results show that people value preservation for different reasons, not necessarily related to physical use. The paper finds that the estimated public benefits of the program exceed the estimated opportunity cost of forgone timber revenues and it should therefore be implemented. The paper also finds that there is no regional imbalance in the distribution of the benefits. Paper [II] examines the public benefits from preserving the four large predators in the Swedish fauna. Specifically, the paper focuses on the differences in attitudes and willingness to pay between people in wolf areas and other regions. We find that a clear majority of people in wolf areas are against preserving predators and that many of them need to be economically compensated in order to accept implementation of the predator policy package. The public in Sweden is, by a narrow margin, against implementation. The overall mean WTP is approximately SEK 300. It cannot be ruled out that the public benefits may be outweighed by the public costs following implementation. Paper [III] presents a new approach for treating preference uncertainty in contingent valuation. Specifically, it studies how data elicited from a multiple bounded question should be modelled. The new approach is compared to one of the conventional approaches and we find that: (1) it is more intuitive; (2) it better fits the data; (3) it gives more precise estimates of mean and median WTP; (4) it is less sensitive to distributional assumptions; and (5) it is better suited for policy analysis. Paper [IV] examines the income-effect in contingent valuation. Specifically three issues are analyzed: (1) the choice of income measure; (2) the choice of modelling assumptions; and (3) the social context. The results show that the estimated income-elasticity of WTP is fairly sensitive to different choices. The most statistically precise estimate is produced using household income and controlling for household characteristics. The third issue (social context) is approached by studying the answers to a WTP question conditioning respondents on a change in (1) their personal income and (2) the average income in Sweden. The results suggest that not only the income level per se influences WTP, but also its relation to the income of others. Keywords: contingent valuation, nonuse values, preference uncertainty, income-effect.
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| 50. |
- Brockwell, Erik, 1985-
(författare)
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Signaling through taxing America’s sin : a panel data study
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This article aims to examine how sin taxation changes long-term consumer behavior regarding commodities which are deemed harmful for both health and the environment. These include tobacco, alcoholic beverages, sugar and confectionary, household energy, and motor fuel. Specifically, we examine the signaling effect from taxation which is seen if a tax increase leads to a significantly larger change in consumption than a producer price change. The empirical analysis is conducted by a US panel data study, during the period 1988-2012 for the four US census regions, using the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS). We find the main result to be that the signaling effect from taxation is significant for tobacco as well as for electricity and motor fuel.
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