THE SWEDISH WAGE–RENTAL RATIO AND ITS DETERMINANTS, 1877–1926

Trends in wage–rental ratios figure prominently in the recent literature on factor price convergence and globalisation in the late nineteenth century. Sweden has been described as a free-trade country whose wage–rental ratio exhibited a distinctive upward trend before World War I. This article presents a new land price series that indicates an increase in land rentals and an evolution of the wage–rental ratio more in line with other European protectionist countries. We explore the determinants of the Swedish wage–rental ratio and assess the relative importance of protectionism and changes in Swedish farming's product mix from crop to animal products.     

Auditor regulation and economic crime policy in Sweden, 1965–2000

This paper analyzes the political and professional battle over auditors' crime-controlling responsibilities in Sweden. The focus is on the discursive strategies of major actor-constellations during 1965–2000. The conclusion is that the duty enacted in 1999 to report suspicions of crime, like earlier attempts in this direction, was not a reaction to major frauds or scandals but a part of broader social-democratic policies during the period: to develop industrial democracy, to fight economic crime, and to improve economic markets.     

Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee statements

Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee statements     

Pattern Bargaining and Wage Leadership in a Small Open Economy*

Pattern bargaining with the tradables (manufacturing) sector as the wage leader is common in Europe. We question the conventional wisdom that such bargaining produces wage restraint. In our model, all forms of pattern bargaining give the same outcomes as uncoordinated bargaining under inflation targeting. Under a monetary union, wage leadership for the non‐tradables sector is conducive to wage restraint, whereas wage leadership for the tradables sector is not. Comparison thinking might lead the follower to set the same wage as the leader. Such equilibria can arise when the leader sector is the smaller sector, and these can promote high employment.     

Contingent work in the UK and Sweden: evidence from the construction industry

This article explores the use of contingent forms of employment in two diverse country contexts—the UK and Sweden—and investigates the influence of changing regulatory and economic conditions over a period that covers the current economic downturn. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data for the construction sector, the article addresses three questions. How do employers balance their flexibility preferences in the context of regulatory constraints? How has the global recession influenced employer behaviour? And to what extent can the Swedish experience be explained by convergence on other country models? While the UK employment model encourages employers to externalise the risk of unpredictable market conditions through the use of contingent contracts, the more supportive welfare regime in Sweden underpins a resilient preference of employers for open‐ended employment contracts. Ongoing changes in labour market regulation pose challenges to the strongly regulated Swedish model, yet we find only a shared direction of travel with the UK rather than convergence in the use of contingent employment.     

The development and regional significance of the automotive industry: supplier parks in western Europe

Supplier relationships in the automotive industry have changed considerably in recent decades. Increasing levels of outsourcing and modular production combined with just–in–time deliveries have increased the demand for logistical coordination of the manufacturing process. This article specifically looks at the use of supplier parks in the automotive industry. Five supplier parks located in Sweden, Germany and Spain are analysed using case studies. One observation is that the logic of proximity in these cases is highly linked to the use of sequential synchronous just–in–time deliveries. This is combined with a high degree of modular production as well as outsourcing strategies. Together, these factors have pushed supplier companies to establish themselves in supplier parks. The cases also reveal very limited links to the local and regional economy. Most companies have the sole function of serving the adjacent customer with reliable deliveries. One further observation is that investment in infrastructure is to a great extent made through public funding, as supplier parks are typically ‘produced spaces’ in order to support the car–makers in the region. Les relations d’approvisionnement se sont profondément transformées au cours des deniers décennies dans l’industrie automobile. L’externalisation croissante et la modularisation associés à la gestion Juste–à–temps ont accentué le rôle de la logistique dans l’organisation du processus de production. Dans ce contexte, cet article étudie le rôle des parcs de fournisseurs dans l’industrie automobile. L’analyse se fonde sur l’étude approfondie de cinq parcs de fournisseurs localisés en Allemagne, Espagne et Suède. Une des conclusions de ses études de cas est que la logique de proximité est largement associée à la diffusion de la production synchrone, mais aussi à l’importance de la production modulaire et au degré d’externalisation. Ces trois facteurs explicatifs justifient la localisation des équipementiers dans les parcs de fournisseurs. Les cas étudiés mettent aussi en évidence un impact limité de ces complexes sur l’économie locale. La plupart des fournisseurs ne localisent qu’une simple fonction de préparation des sous–ensembles livrés en temps voulu sur les chaînes d’assemblage. Enfin, on peut noter que l’investissement dans l’infrastructure est pour une large part financée sur des fonds publics, les parcs de fournisseurs pouvant être qualifiés d’espaces produits’ afin de consolider l’implantation locale des constructeurs.     

EXPLORING PROCESSES FOR CUSTOMER VALUE INSIGHTS,SUPPLY CHAIN LEARNING AND INNOVATION: AN INTERNATIONAL STUDY

This paper reports results from a study designed to assess the extent to which firms across industries and several countries lay the groundwork for and use customer value insight, supply chain learning, and innovation processes. The cross‐sectional study serves as an exploration of the theoretical relationships among these activities and their impact on perceptions of organizational performance. Through an international survey study drawing on samples from the U.S., Sweden and Denmark, the authors find support for the notions that supply chain learning and innovation processes are driven by processes aimed at studying changes in customer value and contribute to perceptions of superior organizational performance. These findings have significant implications for logistics and supply chain management.     

DEFAULT AND SYSTEMIC RISK IN EQUILIBRIUM

We develop a finite horizon continuous time market model, where risk‐averse investors maximize utility from terminal wealth by dynamically investing in a risk‐free money market account, a stock, and a defaultable bond, whose prices are determined via equilibrium. We analyze the endogenous interaction arising between the stock and the defaultable bond via the interplay between equilibrium behavior of investors, risk preferences and cyclicality properties of the default intensity. We find that the equilibrium price of the stock experiences a jump at default, despite that the default event has no causal impact on the underlying economic fundamentals. We characterize the direction of the jump in terms of a relation between investor preferences and the cyclicality properties of the default intensity. We conduct a similar analysis for the market price of risk and for the investor wealth process, and determine how heterogeneity of preferences affects the exposure to default carried by different investors.