Why are Small Firms Different? Managers’ Views

Do incentives differ between large and small organizations? Results from a representative survey of compensation managers are used to shed light on the issues. I find that (i) small establishments rely less on pecuniary incentives, and have a significantly more hostile attitude towards incentive schemes based on competition and relative rewards; (ii) large units are more vulnerable to mechanisms of efficiency wages, effects that remain even after controlling for differences in monitoring ability; (iii) large units are more prone to indicate that negative reciprocity is important, and that their employees care about relative pay. I argue that these findings fit with behavioral stories of incentives and motivation, in particular those stressing group interaction effects, inequity aversion and gift exchange.     

Efficiency and Equality in the Labour Market

I review theoretical arguments suggesting that certain labourmarket institutions can be justified for economic efficiencyreasons. In models with intrinsic market failures, "rigidities"like employment protection legislation and institutional wagecompression may push the economy closer to the efficient frontier.I discuss recent empirical evidence on income inequality, povertyand income mobility in OECD countries, and I conclude that thewelfare states of Northern Europe score relatively well on allcounts. Finally, I discuss labour market reforms that may improveefficiency without violating European voters' preference forequality.(JEL H30, J30, J50)     

Institutional investors' holdings surrounding equity rights offerings

We examine shareholding surrounding Swedish rights offerings using detailed information on the ownership in firms. We analyze shareholding levels and their changes for domestic and foreign institutional investors. As institutional holdings change, domestic institutions increase their holdings more than foreign institutions. Our examination of low and high buying activities by institutional investors surrounding rights offerings shows no stock picking ability, thus not supporting the “smart-money hypothesis” (Gibson et al., 2004). We also find that investor domicile influences firm value following the offering. Overall, foreign investors exhibit a strong and opposite directional reaction to adverse selection costs than domestic investors.     

Cross-border acquisitions and taxes: efficiency and tax revenues

Abstract .  We develop a theoretical oligopoly model to study how international differences in profit and capital gains taxes affect foreign acquisitions. Reductions in foreign profit taxes tend to trigger inefficient foreign acquisitions, while reductions in foreign capital gains taxes may trigger efficient foreign acquisitions. Foreign acquisitions can increase domestic tax revenues even when profit taxes are evaded. The reason is that bidding competition between foreign firms ensures that all benefits from the acquisition, including tax advantages, are captured by a domestic seller paying capital gains taxes. Tax code issues, such as the treatment of goodwill, are shown to affect the pattern of foreign acquisitions.     

Carbon tax simulations using a household demand model

The main objective of this paper is to analyse consumer response and welfare effects due to changes in energy or environmental policy. To achieve this objective we formulate and estimate an econometric model for non-durable consumer demand in Sweden that utilises micro- and macro-data. In the simulations, we consider two revenue neutral scenarios that both imply a doubling of the CO₂ tax; one that returns the revenues in the form of a lower VAT and one that subsidise public transport. One conclusion from the simulations is that the CO₂ tax has regional distribution effects, in the sense that household living in sparsely populated areas carry a larger share of the tax burden.     

“一带一路”归国学术人才学科分布分析

运用简历分析研究方法,对中国109所"211工程大学"教师的简历进行大数据分析,研究了来自"一带一路"沿线国家和地区的归国学术人才的学科分布情况。研究结果显示:来自"一带一路"沿线国家和地区的归国学术人才主要来自新加坡、俄罗斯和以色列,主要流入北京、上海和江苏;来自"一带一路"沿线国家和地区的归国学术人才的学科背景主要是工学和理学,具体的专业方向是材料学、工程技术类、电子信息类、土木类、化学、生物学和物理学。     

The long-run determinants of inequality: What can we learn from top income data?

This paper studies determinants of income inequality using a newly assembled panel of 16 countries over the entire twentieth century. We focus on three groups of income earners: the rich (P99–100), the upper middle class (P90–99), and the rest of the population (P0–90). The results show that periods of high economic growth disproportionately increases the top percentile income share at the expense of the rest of the top decile. Financial development is also pro-rich and the outbreak of banking crises is associated with reduced income shares of the rich. Trade openness has no clear distributional impact (if anything openness reduces top shares). Government spending, however, is negative for the upper middle class and positive for the nine lowest deciles but does not seem to affect the rich. Finally, tax progressivity reduces top income shares and when accounting for real dynamic effects the impact can be important over time.     

The unexpected “yes”: Explanatory factors behind the positive attitudes to congestion charges in Stockholm

Several authors have argued that acceptability for road pricing is likely to increase with familiarity. The experiences in Stockholm, where a trial period with congestion charges changed the public opinion from negative to positive, support this hypothesis. Analysing acceptability and attitudes in Stockholm allows us to study a situation where the population is in fact familiar with congestion charges, and explore what the decisive factors for acceptability are in such a situation. By analysing a survey collected after the referendum and the subsequent reintroduction of the charges, we analyse the prerequisites to achieve acceptability given that the public is familiar with congestion charges.As expected, low car dependence and good transit supply are associated with high acceptability. But the two most important factors turn out to be beliefs about the charges' effectiveness, and general environmental attitudes. The importance of beliefs and perceptions of the effects of the charges underscores the importance of both careful system design and careful evaluation and results communication. The strong connection between environmental concerns and positive attitudes to congestion charges underscores the importance of considering and “marketing” the charges' environmental effects. In Stockholm, the politicians' decision to “re-label” the congestion charges to “environmental charges” and emphasising their positive effects on air quality may very well have had a positive impact on acceptability.