Tax policy and entrepreneurship: empirical evidence from Sweden

This paper examines the relationship between income taxes and the decision to become self-employed using data from Sweden. By making it possible to track a large number of individuals over extended time periods and across a number of tax rate changes while controlling for important additional determinants, available tax-return information from Sweden allows for statistical estimation of the influence that income taxes have on the probability of becoming self-employed. The changing tax rate structure combined with the fact that the Swedish tax system does not provide additional tax benefits to small-business entrepreneurs compared with those who work as employees provides a powerful setting through which to examine the tax rate structure’s influence on individuals’ choice to become self-employed. Contrary to many earlier studies based on US data, this paper finds that both average and marginal taxes have a negative impact on the decision to become self-employed.     

Vision Zero--a road safety policy innovation

The aim of this paper is to examine Sweden's Vision Zero road safety policy. In particular, the paper focuses on how safety issues were framed, which decisions were made, and what are the distinctive features of Vision Zero. The analysis reveals that the decision by the Swedish Parliament to adopt Vision Zero as Sweden's road safety policy was a radical innovation. The policy is different in kind from traditional traffic safety policy with regard to problem formulation, its view on responsibility, its requirements for the safety of road users, and the ultimate objective of road safety work. The paper briefly examines the implications of these findings for national and global road safety efforts that aspire to achieving innovative road safety policies in line with the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, declared by the United Nations General Assembly in March 2010.     

Towards sound environmental behaviour: Exploring household participation in waste management

The article reports a study of household participation in waste management. The empirical material stems from a long-term experiment with local composting carried out in a suburb of the city of Göteborg, Sweden. Fifty-two households of a population of 180 voluntarily participated in the field experiment where three makes of compostors were tested. The aim of the paper is to shed light on some critical factors that are of importance when introducing and evaluating new waste management systems that rely on active participation by households. The motives behind the initial decision to participate, as well as factors influencing continuation or discontinuation, are identified and analysed. Data were collected through three interviews carried out in the homes of participating families during the experimental period of one year. Amongst the results reported it can be seen that a general environmental concern was a common factor behind the decision to participate in the project. The positive attitude towards composting was strong throughout the experiment, although composting behaviour in the implementation phase declined in such a way that less material was composted due to lack of knowledge, technical misfits, and problems related to internal household dynamics. Another important result found was that the obstacles perceived by prospective participants prior to the commencement of the composting were not those that in fact proved to be decisive.

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In Richtung auf umweltverträgliches Verhalten: Die Untersuchung der Beteiligung von Haushalten an Abfalltrennung und Müllvermeidung

Zusammenfassung Das empirische Material der Studie, über die der Beitrag berichtet, stammt aus einer Langzeituntersuchung in einem Stadtteil von Göteborg in Schweden, bei der es um lokale Kompostierung von Müll ging. 52 Haushalte aus einer Population von 180 Haushalten nahmen freiwillig an einem Feldexperiment teil, bei dem drei verschiedene Fabrikate von Kompostieren verglichen wurden.Der Beitrag möchte einige kritische Faktoren beleuchten, die bei der Einführung und Evaluierung solcher Müllsysteme von Bedeutung sind, die die aktive Teilnahme der Haushalte voraussetzen. Analysiert werden die Motive zu einer solchen Teilnahme ebenso wie die Faktoren, die gegebenenfalls einen Abbruch der Teilnahme bewirken. Die Datenerhebung erfolgte durch drei Interviews, die in den Haushalten der teilnehmenden Familien während der Untersuchungsdauer von einem Jahr durchgeführt wurden.Zu den Ergebnissen gehört der Befund, daß ein allgemeines Umweltbewußtsein ein allgemeiner Faktor ist, der hinter der Entscheidung, am Projekt teilzunehmen, seht. Von Bedeutung ist ebenfalls eine positive Einstellung gegenüber dem Kompostieren, obwohl das Kompostierungsverhalten während der Untersuchungsphase aus mehreren Gründen nachließ, unter anderem wegen Wissensmängeln, wegen technischer Pannen oder interner Haushaltsprobleme. Ein anderes wesentliches Ergebnis war, daß die Hindernisse, die die prospektiven Teilnehmer vor dem Beginn der Kompostierung zu erkennen glaubten, nicht die waren, die sich als entscheidend herausstellten.

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Helena Åberg is doctoral candidate and Helena Shanahan is associate professor at the Department of Hand Craft and Home Economics at the University of Göteborg, Box 12204, S-402 42 Göteborg, Sweden. Sven Dahlman is associate professor at the Department of Consumer Technology at Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg. Roger Säjö is professor at the Department of Communication Studies, Linköping University, S. 581 85, Linköping, Sweden.The research reported here was financed by the Swedish Council for Building Research, the REFORSK Foundation, the Swedish Association of Housing Companies, and the National Board for Consumer Policies.     

Individual Demand for Local Public Schooling: Evidence from Swedish Survey Data

In this paper we investigate the demand for local public school expenditures in Sweden using survey data, a method previously never applied to Swedish data. We compare our results to those of earlier US studies, where the same method is used in a different institutional setup. Estimating a linear demand specification, we find that demand is inelastic with respect to income and taxprice, much in line with previous Swedish findings in a median voter framework. Estimation of a log-linear demand specification indicates that the elasticities of demand for schooling are higher in Sweden than in the US. Testing the hypothesis that municipal employees tend to have a higher demand for public spending than others, we conclude that income, as well as taxprice and grants, enters the demand function differently for the two groups of employees.     

关于当前大学生择业面试的有关思考

本文从当前大学毕业生择业观念,具体的择业面试的答题原则,到一些常规性面试问题的答题技巧,提出了择业面试最基本的认识和取胜思路。     

建设工程合同管理的信息化

我国加入WTO后，建筑企业将面临国外建筑公司的激烈的竞争，而加强现代信息技术的运用，有利于提高我国建筑业的经营管理水平，增强建筑企业的国际竞争力。本提出了建设工程合同管理信息化的必要性，并构建了合同管理信息系统的框架。     

企业债“信用价差之谜”的最新研究与未来展望

企业债的信用价差和预期违约损失之间的巨大差异，正在引起人们对“信用价差之谜”的日益关注。对“信用价差之谜”的代表性解释之一为信用价差分解理论，该理论的最新研究已经触及到了税收、风险溢价和流动性溢价等方面；代表性解释之二为信用风险分散困境理论，包括系统风险的不可分散性和可分散风险的难以分散性。此外，对“信用价差之谜”的探讨已经从发达债券市场过渡到新兴债券市场，并仍有待于进一步的研究。