| 11. |
- Olofsson, Jon, 1986-
(author)
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An Economic Backbone of Development : Essays in Financial and Political Economy
- 2023
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The thesis consists of three self-contained essays.Local Banking and Historical Innovation: the Effect of Swedish Savings BanksHow does access to credit affect innovation at the early stages of development? This essay uses digitized records from the Swedish savings banks movement, in combination with novel data on the universe of historical patenting, to study how savings banks affected innovation in Sweden between 1900 and 1949, a period when the country was still a developing economy. The empirical strategy exploits local variation in the openings and closings of the savings banks. Municipalities with bank presence experienced increased innovation, measured by more patents from innovators seated in the municipality. In particular, the head offices of the banks impacted innovation, as they were the executive unit and administered lending. Patents from industries more dependent on financing from external sources are driving the effect, along with places with a relatively high population, a developed industry, and a previous history of innovation. The results emphasize the importance of financial institutions with strong local ties and the ability to encourage and redirect savings to promote innovation in developing economies.The Effects of Local Banking: Historical Evidence from the Swedish Savings Bank MovementWhat is the long-term effect of local banking on industrial growth and economic progress in a developing economy? We shed light on this question using rich data covering the staggered rollout of the Swedish savings bank movement and information on industrial development, population statistics, and mortality in 2400 Swedish municipalities during the first half of the 20th century. The first part of the empirical analysis shows that the presence of a savings bank substantially affected industry structure and industry growth by increasing the number of firms, the degree of mechanization, and industry sales value. More advanced industries, reliant on external financing, experienced the most substantial impact. The second part shows that the savings banks also impacted general economic development, captured by population growth and reduced infant and child mortality. The study provides novel insights into the merits of local banking systems in the early stages of economic development.Lethal Police Violence and the Public Perception of the Police: Evidence from US CountiesThe public perception of the police is significant for the validity of the democratic system. Compared to white citizens, Afro-Americans have low confidence in the police. They are also more likely to fall victim to police violence with lethal outcomes. Therefore, ethnicity and group identity may influence how the public views police violence and, by extension, how police violence affects public perceptions. This essay explores this relationship using the timing of an individual-level survey and the occurrence of local police killings. Survey participants interviewed after a police killing of a black victim obtained worse attitudes toward the police. Mainly black participants and those who are young and have a high income or education level induce the effect. In contrast, events with non-black victims elevate the status of the police among non-black respondents and those with a lower level of education. The results are consistent with group identity theory and provide insight into how controversial events affect confidence in a political institution.
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| 12. |
- Thornquist, Tamara, 1988-
(author)
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Essays in economics : The impact of changes on the labor market induced by structural change, the adoption of a new computer-based technology and economic slowdowns on family formation, family fertility outcomes and new careers
- 2020
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Childlessness, Number of Children and The Labor Market at the Time of a New Technology, the US 1980-2018The adoption of a new computer-based technology in the US in the late 1970s resulted in broad changes on the labor market that can be described by two major phenomena - job polarization and a shift in the relative returns to skill. A well established theoretical and empirical literature shows that commuting zones with a historically greater specialization in routine task intensive occupations adopted the new computer-based technology faster and subsequently saw greater changes on the local labor markets. In this paper, I build on the previous literature and analyze the relationship between the historical specialization of commuting zones in routine task intensive occupations and the change in family fertility outcomes in the US 1980-2018. The prediction is that commuting zones with a greater initial routine task specialization adopted the new technology faster and thereafter saw greater changes on the local labor markets, which further led to greater changes in the fertility outcomes. The estimation results suggest that among women in the age group 20-39 of any educational level, the shares of women with at least one child and at least two children decreased by more in commuting zones with a historically greater routine task employment. The result is driven by college educated women.Marital economic homogamy and earnings polarization, the US 1970-2018In this paper I analyze what impact the polarization of earnings had on a rise in the economic resemblance between marriage partners aged 27-36 in the US 1970-2018. An earnings polarization means that the relative earnings gap at the upper end of the earnings distribution has been widening, while the relative earnings gap at the lower end of the earnings distribution has been narrowing in the US since the 1950s-1960s. I employ a structural change driven explanation of labor market polarization and the instrumental variable technique to identify the causal effect of interest. The estimation results show that the marital economic resemblance increases on the widening relative earnings gap at the upper/lower part of the earnings distribution and decreases on the narrowing relative earnings gap at the upper/lower part of the earnings distribution. Keeping all else equal, the polarization of earnings would account for 19 to 25 percent of the rise in the coefficient of marital sorting in the US between 1970 and 2018.New Careers, Labor Market Turmoil and Gender: Evidence from Russia 2000-2016 In this paper I study what was the effect of entering the labor market under adverse economic conditions on the career development of college educated men and women in Russia 2000-2016. The instrumental variable technique is used to identify the causal effect of interest. I find a negative immediate effect of graduating in a bad economy on the log hourly wage among all college graduates and among college graduate men. Although the negative effect gradually dissipates as the economy picks up, it remains present years after graduation. When it comes to college women, no immediate effect of graduating in a bad economy on the hourly wage is identified. The negative effect on the hourly wage among women first pops up three to five years after graduation. College men and women who graduated in a bad economy do, on average, have lower quality jobs which might explain negatively affected hourly wages.
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| 13. |
- Wikström, Jens, 1989-
(author)
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Essays on Health Economics and the Economics of Social Security
- 2023
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Liquidity Effects in Healthcare Consumption: Evidence from Swedish Disability Insurance RecipientsThis paper studies the role of liquidity constraints in healthcare consumption. Combining administrative data on monthly income, liquid assets, prescription drug purchases, and healthcare utilization for the universe of Swedish disability insurance recipients, I find that liquidity-constrained individuals time prescription drug purchases to paydays and reduce prescription purchases more in response to higher prices compared to unconstrained households with similar monthly income. Moreover, the results suggest that low liquidity, but not low income in general, is associated with lower annual prescription drug expenditure and higher hospitalization rates. These results have important implications for the design of health insurance policies. If demand responses to subsidized healthcare prices can be partially attributed to positive liquidity effects, previous assessments of welfare losses associated with providing generous insurance coverage may be overestimated. Therefore, it is essential to consider the impact of liquidity constraints when evaluating the welfare effects of healthcare policies and to take into account how cash-on-hand may shape consumers' responses to changes in healthcare prices.Does it matter who cares? Formal vs. informal care of the elderlyIn this paper, we estimate the effect of subsidizing formal elderly care fees on seniors' utilization of formal care services, seniors’ health outcomes, and the labor supply of their potential caregivers: their children. Leveraging a Swedish reform in a difference-in-differences design, we find that decreasing the fee for formal elderly care is associated with increased utilization of formal elderly care, reduced healthcare utilization among affected seniors, and increased labor supply of their children. We evaluate the welfare implications of the reform using Marginal Value of Public Funds framework. The result shows that the reform becomes self-financing six years after the implementation. This is because children remain attached to the labor market even after the death of their parent.The Long-Run Effect of Stricter Eligibility Rules in Short-Term Disability InsuranceCan duration-dependent eligibility criteria - increasing the strictness for eligibility over time - in Short-Term Disability Insurance (STDI) reduce STDI duration while improving long-run labor market outcomes? To answer this question, I leverage a reform in Sweden that introduced duration-dependent eligibility criteria for STDI. The results show that individuals who are screened out by the stricter eligibility criteria have lower labor force participation during the following four years after the STDI spell. Conversely, the probability of being dependent on unemployment insurance or being non-employed increases. Calculating the net effect on the government's budget for the STDI recipients who are screened out suggests large savings in the short run, but net losses after four years. The findings suggest that policymakers need to carefully consider the potential trade-offs between the direct short-run fiscal savings from policies aiming to shorten STDI duration and the potential long-run costs from unintended changes in labor supply and benefit substitution when designing eligibility criteria for STDI.
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| 14. |
- Yuan, Yangzhou, 1985-
(author)
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Policy, Institutions and Misallocation
- 2023
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The thesis contains three models. Chapter 1 illustrates financial market incompleteness causes misallocations and fluences international trade pattern. Countries with more complete markets tend to specialize in risky sectors. Chapter 2 sets up a cross-generation utility function. Results show fertility constraints harm social mobility and create misallocations through multiple channels. Chapter 3 shows financial segmentation in China is the cause of housing bubbles and creates misallocations. Bubbles improve allocations by crowding out inefficient investments.
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