Adopting a new technology: potatoes and population growth in the periphery

Sweden's population doubled in size between 1750 and 1850 despite a century of stagnating per capita incomes and real wages, which has led many historians to attribute the population explosion to the introduction of the potato. This article provides the first systematic evidence on the potato's contribution to Swedish living standards and population growth. Potatoes at least doubled output per acre, and welfare ratios that account for potato consumption imply that they raised living standards significantly for labourers. Estimates that exploit regional differences in the suitability of land for cultivating potatoes further show that cities, counties, and rural parishes with more land suitable for potato cultivation experienced a sharp relative acceleration in population growth as the potato spread in the early nineteenth century. An expansion of the population was mainly driven by relative increases in fertility and, consistent with Malthusian predictions, there was no long‐run impact on per capita incomes. According to these estimates, the introduction and spread of the potato can account for one‐tenth of population growth between 1800 and 1850, thus suggesting that it was an important catalyst for the Swedish population explosion.     

Building international entrepreneurial virtual networks in cyberspace

We examine how software international entrepreneurs in Iceland use online social network sites to develop and harness their network relationships. To study these relationships, we use a combination of participant observation on LinkedIn and open ended face-to-face interviews. The framework for this study is based on resource-based view, networks and international entrepreneurship theories. We found that entrepreneurs with the largest networks use the online social network to demonstrate their network strength and to identify opportunities to bridge relationships. Our contribution illustrates how entrepreneurs acquire resources to internationalize through online social capital formation.     

Means-Testing the Child Benefit

Improving the distributional impact of transfers may be costly if it reduces labor supply. In this paper we show how effects of changes in the design of the child benefit program can be examined by employing information from behavioral and non-behavioral simulations on micro data. The direct distributional effects are assessed by tax-benefit model calculations, while female labor supply responses to alternative child benefit schemes are simulated under the assumption that choices are discrete. Distributional effects after labor supply responses are also shown. The study confirms that greater targeting of the child benefit is traded against reductions in female labor supply.     

Reduced Tax Progressivity in Norway in the Nineties: The Effect from Tax Changes

The inequality in pre-tax income increased in Norway in the 1990s, while the concentration of taxes remained largely unaltered. This means that tax progressivity has decreased in the period, as measured by summary indices of tax progressivity. In this paper I analyze individual income data to ascertain whether tax changes in the period can explain the observed decrease in tax progressivity. As marginal tax rates at high income levels have been substantially reduced in the period, for instance through the tax reform of 1992, it is expected that tax changes may have influenced the degree of inequality in pre-tax incomes. This behavioral effect is examined by deriving estimates of the elasticity of gross income with respect to the net-of-tax rate, obtained from various panel data regressions. The tax changes may also have shifted the distributional burden of taxes for unaltered level of pre-tax income inequality. In order to identify this (direct) effect of tax-law alterations, the same fixed distribution of pre-tax income is exposed to various tax-laws in the period.     

Horizontal inequity under a dual income tax system: principles and measurement

Tax systems with separate taxation of wage and capital income, also called dual income tax systems, have gained relevance through the Mirrlees Review. Obviously, such tax systems are exposed to horizontal equity (HE) failures, or horizontal inequity (HI). HE and HI have a firm grip on assessment of fair tax policies, both from an academic point of view and in general public debate. The dual income tax system of Norway was modified by the tax reform of 2006 precisely because the previous schedule failed to deliver equal tax treatment of equals. This paper discusses the meaning and measurement of HI effects of dual income tax systems, and evaluates the development of HI for Norway over the time period 2000–2008 using microdata. A copula-based identification strategy efficiently establishes a framework for evaluations of HI over time. The dual income tax system and the early announcement of its impending revision during the period under examination created measurement problems which we had to account for by defining a new income concept for the empirical strategy. As expected, we find less HI in Norway after the reform of 2006.     

Effects of Family Policy Reforms in Norway: Results from a Joint Labour Supply and Childcare Choice Microsimulation Analysis*

Mothers of pre‐school children represent one part of the population that might be able to increase its labour supply. We discuss the effects of family policy changes that encourage the labour supply of these mothers, such as childcare fee reductions and increased availability of centre‐based care. The effects of policy changes are described by using a joint labour supply and childcare choice decision model. Detailed empirical results are provided with respect to mothers' labour supply, families' childcare choices, public expenditures, and distributions of income and money metric utility.     

A Common Base Answer to the Question “Which Country Is Most Redistributive?”*

We believe that what most authors have in mind when referring to the “most redistributive country” is a tax and transfer schedule that is most redistributive across all pre-tax and transfer income distributions. In order to measure each country's tax and transfer redistribution according to the same baseline, we suggest using the transplant-and-compare method of Dardanoni and Lambert (2002, Journal of Public Economics 86, 99–122) to establish a common base. The redistributive effects of countries’ tax and transfer schedules are illustrated by employing microdata on eight countries from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). Of these eight countries, Finland is found to be the most redistributive country, according to the common base method.     

Properties of first-time vs. repeat visitors: lessons for marketing Norwegian ski resorts

This paper explores the potential in foreign markets for winter tourism in Norway and discusses the influencing factors explaining why foreign tourists visit and revisit Norway on ski vacations. In a decreasing market, it becomes increasingly important to destination managers and marketers to choose the right marketing strategies and direction. We focus on characteristics that influence and explain why foreign tourists choose to return. More than 3000 respondents from Sweden, Denmark, and Germany were asked for their image of Norwegian ski destinations and criteria for winter vacation selection. We fitted mainly hurdle and quantile regressions to gain consistent and less biased estimates. Stable snow conditions, combining alpine and cross-country skiing, and no fees for the latter are some of Norway's competitive but seldom marketed advantages, and especially towards repeat visitors. Repeaters typically prefer self-catering accommodation and are less price sensitive. Surprisingly, foreign ski tourists are not very interested in other snow-based activities or cultural attractions. Despite repeaters constituting the majority of foreign ski tourists, neither the national development and marketing agency (Innovation Norway) nor local tourist organizations and marketers have a strategy for targeting them. We recommend a shift from profile marketing towards segmented marketing, aimed especially at the repeat-visitor segment.     

Techno-economic evaluation of 3G and beyond mobile business alternatives

Three business case scenarios in the context of emerging mobile access network technologies and business players have been studied and the economical results are presented. The aim is to cover some of the most interesting business alternatives in providing the new 3G and beyond services including cases where the operator may have an existing second-generation cellular network or not, and a license for the 3G UMTS network or not. The scenarios have been analyzed in different Western European country groups that are not exactly representative of any defined country, but rather share typical demographic characteristics. Investments and operational expenditures are identified and the results show how diverse business models and technologies lead to different revenue, cost, and profitability profiles. The business case scenarios include incumbent’s 3G evolution with UMTS compared to an alternative 3G technology deployment with mobile WiMAX, new entrant’s UMTS deployment business case, and a greenfield CDMA450 deployment business case.