The goal of this research is to demonstrate that the financial performance of the current year in Swedish steel SMEs is dependent on the amount of maturity of supply chain processes. This is examined by considering current supply chain process maturities of the firm together with financial performance of prior years. It was found that the delivery process of supply chain processes and prior cost of goods sold (COGS) have an effect on current COGS. Additionally, prior inventory and plan process of the supply chain have a positive and negative effect on inventory turnover respectively.

Denna uppsats handlar om att studera varför den faktiska prisförändringen på utdelningsdagen skiljer sig från det som teoretiskt borde infalla om privata investerare är de som till sist påverkar prisförändringen. Tidigare studier har gjorts på andra marknader, däribland USA och har grundats på ett progressivt skattesystem. I Sverige kan vi dock observera ett platt skattesystem under den studerade tidsperioden. I jämförelse med tidigare studier kan vi också observera en större variation i skatteregimer.

För att genomföra denna studie formulerar vi två modeller, då vi misstänker att den första modellen kan vara missvisande eftersom att en variabel har många missing values. I båda modellerna använder vi oss av samma beroende variabel, som visar skillnaden mellan den faktiska prisförändringen på aktiers utdelningsdag och det som teoretiskt borde gälla vid respektive skatteregim. Den beroende variabeln har vi själva skapat, utifrån vårt datamaterial, för att besvara vårt syfte med studien. Datamaterialet som används i studien är obalanserat paneldata, och utifrån detta gör vi en regressionsanalys med minsta kvadratmetoden.

De empiriska resultaten påvisar en låg förklaringsgrad och ingen variabel är signifikant skilt från noll, vilket medför att vi inte kan dra några direkta slutsatser.

Roads and railways in Sweden are mainly financed with national government taxes. However, the regional distribution of benefits differs widely from that of tax payments. As a consequence, overspending is likely to occur. A condition for efficiency is that the collective of users should pay for such projects. Therefore, we propose a new regional order for financing projects: government expenditures for transportation projects should be transferred to regions as well as the real estate tax to finance them. We present estimates of the size of such expenditures and of the income from real estate taxes following decentralization to regions.

Organizations have spent and continue to spend millions of dollars on information systems (IS) in order to enable business success. Information systems have long been used to help managers make better decisions, better understand the nature of customers and improve employee productivity. They have enabled transformations in organizations, such as simplification and acceleration of work processes, and contributed to continued improvement and innovation in these processes. It is not that easy however to make this simplification and acceleration of work processes to happen. A common problem is that individuals that are supposed to use these systems do not use them, and if an information systems is to contribute to business success it has to be adopted and used. The question is therefore, how do we get individuals to adopt and use systems that are implemented?

This dissertation focus on what influences individual adoption and use, and how we can get individuals to adopt and use systems that are implemented. The information system under investigation is an electronic ordering (e-ordering) system. E-ordering systems are used by individual end-users (requestors, authorizers and goods receivers) in an organization when ordering products and services. The system aims at contributing to reduced maverick (i.e. wild= purchases and increased compliance with a few centrally chosen suppliers, thus facilitating lower purchasing prices and a reduction of the costs for purchasing. The thesis also discusses the relative difficulty in getting individuals to continue to use the systems compared to get them to adopt it. Another issue that is discussed is that the acceptance process does not have to happen gradually, it can instead happen in short spurts. It is further discussed what can influence these spurts.

The present study suggests a generalization of the standard translog cost function model, incorporating the demand side of the market into the analysis. The main advantage of this generalized model is that it can be used to directly investigate the degree of monopoly power in the market under study, using the Lerner index as the empirical measure of market power. The Swedish construction industry is used as an empirical example of how to apply this method. Within the framework of the neoclassical theory of production, cost and factor demand functions as well as an expression equating marginal cost to marginal revenue are estimated. The paper finds substitutability between capital and labor and between labor and materials, the returns to scale are found to be increasing, while introduction of new technology is found to reduce the total cost of production. Finally, on average, the Lerner index amounts to 15.1% per annum suggesting that the Swedish construction industry possesses some monopoly power in the market for its product. This result also suggests that the results from cost function analysis, not taking the possibility of market power into account, might be biased due to misspecification of the model.

Universities are facing the need to rethink their educational strategies, especially due to the emergence of new technologies, such as mobile applications, which have had great expectations. Previous studies have been focused on changes in student engagement from using mobile applications in the classroom, whereas there has been little research on the impact of mobile applications on student assessment. This research uses a quasi-experimental study to examine the relationship between student assessment and the use of a mobile application. Two groups of students (a control and an experimental group) were tested in the same academic semester with the same lecturer. Two analyses were carried out (t-test and difference-in-differences) to evaluate this relationship. Contrary to the general expectations, the results showed that there is no significant difference on assessment when comparing the two groups’ scores. However, students showed a positive attitude in engaging with the mobile application. Although there has been an increase on the use of mobile applications in classrooms, they do not directly affect student scores. This research shows that mobile applications should be used as a complement to traditional education, and not as a substitute to it.

Aim: The purpose of the thesis is to give small private investors an insight the financial world of derivatives and to show that an investor does not need to consult with an advisor in order to make decisions about the investments. The aim was to show through a new product that a small investor can beat the market return.

Method: The method used in the thesis is to collect data over a three year period for an option, a bull ETF and a treasury bill. The database DataStream was used to obtain statistics of the option and the Treasury bill and Nasdaq OMX Nordic was used for the Bull ETF. We calculated the expected return and variance of each in order to use in the portfolio. Having the information needed we then used a trial-and-error method to calculate the weight each component will be given, with the help of Excel and its Solver add-on.

Result & Conclusion: The results were surprising in that over the three year period the product had a 100% increase, while the market only went up by 30%. The major reason for the products strong return was that the daily earnings were shifted everyday so that the weights remained constant throughout the life of the product. The issue with the product was that no transaction costs were included in the calculations, and as there would be at least one transaction per day the costs would be enormous for the given product.

Suggestions for Further Research: As one of the limitations for the thesis was that no transactions cost were included, one idea for further research could be to calculate the transaction costs as well as seeing if there is a method to minimize them so that the product could be profitable.

Contribution to the Field: To our knowledge we are the first to test theses three components in order to from a structured product. Through our method interested parties could do the same with other components or retest our product. We have showed through our method one way to create your own structured product.

Aim/Objective: The purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyze the early effects that could arise between entrepreneurs and lenders in connection with the auditing requirement, which has now been abolished. Through, empirical data identify the impact from the credit provider’s perspective and small business perspective and then make an overall assessment.

Method:The authors are to achieve the purpose for this thesis through the use of both primary and secondary data. Primary data gathered through interviews and secondary data in the form of earlier thesis as well as articles.

Result and conclusion: Banks have not prepared for the change in connection with the abolition of the audit requirement. Lenders look at repayment ability as the most important aspect of giving credit. Lenders argue that small businesses will retain the auditor of the company, because it will help them when granting credit. Creditors reveal that alternative internal methods prevail over revised reports approved by an auditor. However, small businesses reevaluate the function of the revised financial information. Small businesses welcomed the abolition of the audit requirement in the introductory phase, because it provides more flexibility of their resources.

Suggestions for future research: Our proposal for further research is to investigate the Swedish market's capacity to raise the levels of the requirements, and examine which companies will be effected. Also to clarify what level the limit should be and examine the impact on lending to small business with such a change.

Contribution of the thesis: The thesis will give an idea of how small businesses perceive the abolition of the audit requirement and how it will affect the lenders' review and decision making in the case of loans to small businesses. The thesis is primarily aimed towards auditors, lenders and small businesses.

The goal of this paper is to examine whether the introduction of a qualifying day in the use of sick insurance in the Swedish welfare system resulted in an increase in the use of parental benefits as substitute to avoid the qualifying day. We believe that this could be the case because of the higher gain from the welfare system. We use OLS to perform a linear regression from a data set from the data base LINDA during 1991-1996. The results in this paper are that there is a significant increase in the parental benefit after the reform although there is a negative trend for parental benefit during the examined period.

In this paper we argue that invalid weighting instructions are recommended in three international gender-neutral job evaluation tools, which are used for correcting for possible gender-biased wage setting at work places. One of the tools is recommended by ILO.

In these tools the evaluation and the ranking of the jobs at a workplace will be based on an overall assessment of various job-related requirements as skills, responsibility, effort and working condition. The overall assessment will be represented by weighted sum of scales. An essential assumption made in these tools is that the weights assigned to the scales can represent the relative importance of the job-related requirements.

However, we claim that the weights cannot in a meaningful way say anything about the relative importance of these job-related requirements. We support our claim by a formal reconstruction of a job evaluation tool based on so called Multi-Criteria Decision Making. The implication of the reconstruction is that the weights will play a key role in the basic pay setting of the jobs.

We further argue that, due to this mistaken interpretation of the weights in the instructions, the user of these tools will likely not realize the close link between the weighting of the job-related requirements and the basic pay setting of the jobs. We therefore conclude that an application of these invalid weighting instruction might hamper the purpose of gender-neutral job evaluation of achieving a rational and genderneutral pay setting at workplaces.

The paper ends with a recommendation that valid weighting instructions should be developed by means of Multi-Criteria Decision Making.

This paper is based on the New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) which was developed by Gali and Gertler (1999). The main purpose was to estimate the Swedish Phillips curve and then find the relevant determinants of inflation. The baseline NKPC model relates inflation to marginal cost and expected future inflation. The only difference between Gali and Getler’s specification of the Phillips curve and Bengt Assarsson’s is that he uses a Translog cost function, instead of Cobb- Douglas cost function to measure marginal cost. Because of that, inflation is not explained only by labor income share as in the Cobb-Douglas case. Our results indicate on one hand that the increase in output, wages and price of materials (intermediate inputs) is associated with increase in Swedish inflation. On the other hand, we found that the Swedish inflation is negatively affected by increase in price of capital. These results illustrate that the use of translog cost function instead of Cobb-Douglas function when measuring marginal cost has an evident advantage.

Since the year of 2000 it has been legal for companies in Sweden to repurchases their own stocks. The purpose of this study is to examine if it has been possible to make a positive abnormal return in Stockholmsbörsen by buying stocks in companies that has announced a buyback program. Our study includes 59 companies that have accomplished a buyback program throw the years of 2000 to 2006. To calculate the abnormal return we use the BHAR method with Affärsvärldens generalindex and branchindex as benchmarks. The result shows a significant positive abnormal return of 23,56 percent the first 12 month after the announcement with Affärsvärldens generalindex as benchmark. When the branchindex is used as benchmark the result shows a positive abnormal return of 10,96 percent under the first 12 month. Furthermore we consider that our result support the Underreactionhypothesis because the positive abnormal return has a tendency to grow exponential.

Ports are an important player in the world, due to their role in global production and distributions systems. Theyare major intermodal transport hubs, linking the sea to the land. For all ports, a key requirement for commercialand economic viability is to retain ships using them and to remain accessible to those ships. Ports need to findapproaches to help them remain open. They must ensure their continued economic viability. At the same time,they face increasing pressure to become more environmentally and socially conscious. This paper examines theapproach taken by the Port of Gävle, Sweden, which used contaminated dredged materials to create new landusing principles of Circular Economy. The paper demonstrates that using Circular Economy principles can be aviable way of securing a port's future and contributing to its sustainability, and that of the city/region where itoperates.

The English Channel region is an area of high conservational importance, as well being a contributor to economic prosperity, social well-being and quality of life of the people living around it. There is a need to incorporate societal elements into marine and coastal governance, to improve management of the Channel ecosystem. Public Perception Research (PPR) is a relatively unexplored dimension of marine science, with limited research at the scale of the Channel region. Using an online survey, this study examined the public's use of, and funding priorities for, the Channel's marine and coastal environment. It revealed that there are variations in how the English and French coastlines are used. Environmental issues were generally viewed as being more important than economic ones. Country-level differences were observed for public uses of, and priorities for the Channel region. Cleaner water and beaches, and improved coastal flood defences, were more highly prioritised by English respondents, while offshore renewable energy and sustainability of businesses were more highly prioritised by French respondents. The paper contributes to the debate on the value of PPR by addressing evidence gaps in the English Channel region, and to PPR literature more broadly. It provides baseline data to inform future engagement strategies for the marine and coastal governance of the Channel region specifically. It also identifies how this type of research has implications for the wider marine and coastal environment, including contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 14 on conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas, and marine resources.

The composite market design is a proposal for a transferable discharge permit system that specifically includes agricultural non-point-source dischargers and addresses both property rights and transaction cost problems. The first step to implementation of a composite market scheme is the estimation of a supply curve for abatement measures in the catchment area. Estimation is performed by combining costs with modeled loss reductions from selected best management practices and then using this information to estimate the supply curve for abatement, which in turn can then be used to set permit prices. The Rönneå catchment in southern Sweden is used as a pilot study area for making this type of estimate. Costs for existing measures that reduce nutrient losses from farmland (catch crops and spring planting) are based on existing programs financed by the Swedish Agricultural Board. A set of supply curves is calculated for these measures using retention estimates for seven subcatchments and three soil types in the area. Although existing information is sufficient to calculate partial supply curves and may be used to set permit prices, additional measures should be included as well as an increased number of variables for differentiating site specific reduction costs.

Natural water retention measures (NWRM) are a multifunctional form of green infrastructure that can play an important role in catchment-scale flood risk management. While green infrastructure based on natural processes is increasingly recognised as being complementary to traditional flood control strategies based on grey infrastructure in urban areas, there are a number of outstanding challenges with their widespread uptake. At a catchment scale, it is widely accepted that NWRM in upstream areas based on the concept of ’keeping the rain where it falls’ can help reduce the risk of downstream flooding by enhancing or restoring natural hydrological processes including interception, evapotranspiration, infiltration, and ponding. However, both the magnitude of flood risk reduction and the institutional structures needed for widespread uptake of NWRM are inadequately understood. Implementing NWRM can involve trade-offs, especially in agricultural areas. Measures based on drainage management and short rotation forestry may help ’keep the rain where it falls’ but can result in foregone farm income. To identify situations where the implementation of NWRM may be warranted, an improved understanding of the likely reductions in downstream urban flood risk, the required institutional structures for risk management and transfer, and mutually acceptable farm compensation schemes are all needed.

The study sought to clarify the comparative effect of outsourcing in relation to alternative manufacturing practices. A representative sample of 267 Swedish manufacturing plants was subjected to multiple regression analysis. Results show that in comparison to outsourcing manufacturing, the other practices related to the enhancement of manufacturing capability had a much stronger ability to predict improvements in operating performance. While investments in higher manufacturing capability have only positive effects, outsourcing may entail negative as well as positive effects on operating performance. For the most part, outsourcing leads to negative effects when used as the main strategy to improve performance, but is more likely to cause positive effects if concurrent initiatives are taken to develop manufacturing capabilities. Thus it is argued that there is a far greater performance improvement potential in investing in, rather than divesting, the manufacturing function. Outsourcing is mainly beneficial when used to free resources in order to invest in higher manufacturing capability.

Study I: This paper investigates the effect of the academic ordinal rank position of Swedish grade 9 students relative to their school peers on future educational achievement and adult earnings. The results show evidence of a positive impact of being more highly ranked in the class, and the effects are concentrated to the top and the bottom of the ordinal rank distribution. High-ability students from low-income families gained the most from having a higher ordinal rank in grade 9. The results contrast with US findings, which suggest a similar impact across the rank distribution.

Study II: This paper studies the effect of a reform that increased school-level autonomy in determining how to allocate time between different subjects in Sweden. It evaluates the impact of the reform using registry data in a Difference-in-Differences framework. The results suggest that students' educational outcomes, including the subsequent choice of educational track, were not affected by the reform. However, there are some indications that students in large schools and students from low socioeconomic households may have benefited from the reform. 

Study III: Research suggests that increases in gross domestic product (GDP) lead to increases in traffic deaths plausibly due to the increased road traffic induced by an expanding economy. However, there also seems to exist a long-term effect of economic growth that is manifested in improved traffic safety and reduced rates of traffic deaths. Previous studies focus on either the short-term, procyclical effect, or the long-term, protective effect. The aim of the present study is to estimate the short-term and long-term effects jointly in order to assess the net impact of GDP on traffic mortality. We performed error correction modelling to estimate the short-term and long-term effects of GDP on the traffic death rates. The estimates from the error correction modelling for the entire study period suggested that a one-unit increase (US$1000) in GDP/capita yields an instantaneous short-term increase in the traffic death rate by 0.58 (p<0.001), and a long-term decrease equal to −1.59 (p<0.001). However, period-specific analyses revealed a structural break implying that the procyclical effect outweighs the protective effect in the period prior to 1976, whereas the reverse is true for the period 1976–2011. 

Study IV: Unemployment might affect several risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading cause of death globally. The characterization of the relation between these two phenomena is thus of great significance from a public-health perspective. The main aim of this study was to estimate the association between the unemployment rate and mortality from CVD and from coronary heart disease (CHD). We used time-series data for 32 countries spanning the period 1960–2015. We applied two alternative modelling strategies: (a) error correction modelling, provided that the data were co-integrated; and (b) first-difference modelling in the absence of co-integration. Separate models were estimated for each of five welfare state regimes with different levels of unemployment protection. We also performed country-specific ARIMA-analyses. Because the data did not prove to be co-integrated, we applied first-difference modelling. Our findings, based on data from predominantly affluent countries, suggest that heart-disease mortality does not respond to economic fluctuations.

This paper investigates the effect of the academic ordinal rank position of Swedish grade 9 students relative to their school peers on future educational achievementand adult earnings. The results show evidence of a positive impact of being more highly ranked in the class, and the effects are concentrated to the top and the bottom of the ordinal rank distribution. High-ability students from low-income families gained the most from having a higher ordinal rank in grade 9. The results contrast with US findings, which suggest a similar impact across the rank distribution.

Background: Unemployment might affect several risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading cause of death globally. The characterisation of the relation between these two phenomena is thus of great significance from a public-health perspective. The main aim of this study was to estimate the association between the unemployment rate and mortality from CVD and from coronary heart disease (CHD). Additional aims were (a) to assess whether the associations are modified by the degree of unemployment protection; (b) to determine the impact of GDP on heart-disease mortality; and (c) to assess the impact of the Great Recession in this context. Methods: We used time-series data for 32 countries spanning the period 1960–2015. We applied two alternative modelling strategies: (a) error correction modelling, provided that the data were co-integrated; and (b) first-difference modelling in the absence of co-integration. Separate models were estimated for each of five welfare state regimes with different levels of unemployment protection. We also performed country-specific ARIMA-analyses. Results: Because the data did not prove to be co-integrated, we applied first-difference modelling. The estimated effect of unemployment and GDP on CVD as well as CHD was statistically insignificant across age and sex groups and across the various welfare state regimes. An interaction term capturing the possible excess effect of unemployment during the Great Recession was also statistically insignificant. Conclusions: Our findings, based on data from predominantly affluent countries, suggest that heart-disease mortality does not respond to economic fluctuations.

Background Research suggests that increases in gross domestic product (GDP) lead to increases in traffic deaths plausibly due to the increased road traffic induced by an expanding economy. However, there also seems to exist a long-term effect of economic growth that is manifested in improved traffic safety and reduced rates of traffic deaths. Previous studies focus on either the short-term, procyclical effect, or the long-term, protective effect. The aim of the present study is to estimate the short-term and long-term effects jointly in order to assess the net impact of GDP on traffic mortality. Methods We extracted traffic death rates for the period 1960-2011 from the WHO Mortality Database for 18 OECD countries. Data on GDP/capita were obtained from the Maddison Project. We performed error correction modelling to estimate the short-term and long-term effects of GDP on the traffic death rates. Results The estimates from the error correction modelling for the entire study period suggested that a one-unit increase (US$1000) in GDP/capita yields an instantaneous short-term increase in the traffic death rate by 0.58 (p<0.001), and a long-term decrease equal to -1.59 (p<0.001). However, period-specific analyses revealed a structural break implying that the procyclical effect outweighs the protective effect in the period prior to 1976, whereas the reverse is true for the period 1976-2011. Conclusions An increase in GDP leads to an immediate increase in traffic deaths. However, after the mid-1970s this short-term effect is more than outweighed by a markedly stronger protective long-term effect, whereas the reverse is true for the period before the mid-1970s.

Changes in the Swedish tax code during the 1990s were structured in a way that offers an opportunity to test whether ex-dividend prices were determined by the taxation of domestic individual investors. The results presented in this paper indicate that ex-dividend prices were not influenced by the relatively large tax changes for domestic individual investors. In addition, there was no evidence that the taxation of domestic individual investors influenced ex-dividend prices for any specific dividend yield group.

In this paper, we use a non-parametric regression method to compare the transition process from high to low inflation with the implementation dates of central bank independence reforms. In most countries, price stability is achieved before more independence is given to the central bank. Moreover, for those countries which have implemented a central bank independence reform under a high inflation regime, no evidence is found that the reforms have actually led to price stability. This suggests that the credibility of a low inflation goal can be achieved without institutional reforms which grant the central bank more independence from the political policymakers.

The purpose of this paper is to study the intra-household allocation of time to different household production activities using Swedish cross-sectional household data. The Tobit model is rejected in favor of the Cragg model, suggesting that an empirical model has to take into consideration that allocation of time within the household is determined by two separate processes. Moreover, the results indicate that valuable information concerning the intra-household allocation of time may be missing when household production is defined as the sum of different household activities, but there is no indication that statistically significant effects are wiped out in an aggregated analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to study whether investors' willingness to realize capital gains falls when the marginal tax rate on capital gains is raised. We use a rich register-based panel data set covering almost 8% of the Swedish population. The results indicate that a 10% increase in capital gains tax rate reduces the number of realizations of capital gains with 8.7% and the realized amount, given the decision to realize, with 1.9%. In addition, we find that wealthy individuals seem to respond more to changes in capital gains tax rates than less-wealthy.

This paper studies the impact of the Stockholm road pricing trial on retail revenues. The analysis is performed using revenue data from 14 shopping malls, 9 within the tool area and 5 outside the tool area. The data also include revenue data from a sample of retail stores located along the main shopping streets in Stockholm. The results show that the Stockholm road pricing trial did not negatively affect retail revenue, neither in shopping malls nor in the sample of retail stores.

To what extent might a crop with increased plant N uptake efficiency and/or N demand increase plant biomass and soil carbon storage, decrease N leaching, and reduce the need for N fertilisation? This was assessed for a fertilised sandy loam site in central Sweden cultivated with spring barley for a four year period using a process based crop and soil simulation model (SOILN) calibrated to fit observations of field experiments with non-modified crops. Crop properties were changed in accordance with previous model applications to other crops with higher N uptake and utilisation efficiencies, to resemble potential effects of breeding. For the modified crops a doubling of daily uptake efficiency of soil mineral N and/or increase of radiation use efficiency by 30%, increased plant biomass by 3%-30%, decreased N leaching by 1%-30% and increased soil organic carbon (SOC) content by 1-12 g C m-2 year-1. The larger changes were mainly due to increased uptake efficiency. Fertilisation of the modified spring barley crop could be reduced while still producing the same plant biomass as the non-modified crop. The plant biomass to N leaching ratio of the modified crops increased. The simulated changes in plant biomass and SOC were sensitive to weather conditions suggesting that in situ experiments would need to cover a large range of weather conditions to evaluate the performance of new crop traits under climatic variability. The study suggests a strong need that field experiments are accompanied with model applications, when exploring the potential of the modified crops under variable conditions.

The purpose of the study was to gain knowledge about how nurses and social workers experienced their work situation during COVID-19 pandemic. The questions concerned what help support they had received from the employer in relation to work and health, what information, guidelines and routines which had facilitated during the pandemic, what might have been missing and what experiences could be important for the employees to bring with them to future pandemics. The empirical data consisted of answers to open-ended questions in an online survey in which 109 social workers and 67 nurses participated. The theoretical starting points were Antonovsky’s theory andRequirements-control and the support model. The answers were analyzed using content analysis. The results show that both social workers and nurses described different forms of support, both practical support and emotional support in work situation. Practical support was described as clarity, having functional work tools, protective equipment, information, routines and guidelines. Emotional support in the work situation was described as feeling understanding, dialogue, confirmation, sensitivity and receiving appreciation, rewards and praise in the work situation. The study concludes that it is important to work with social support for both managers and employees who are on the frontlines during a pandemic, in order to improve the work situation, the work environment and employees' health.

The aim of this paper is to study intra household allocation of capital income by using data on Swedish observations. The 1991 tax reform was to change the taxation on capital income from a progressive to a flat tax system. Before the tax reform there were incentives to allocate capital income to the spouses with the lowest income of labor in order to reduce the total tax burden. The data describes the year of 1989 and 1993, those we choose to examine. Using Swedish data from LINDA database we estimate a quotient by ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The explaining variables in the model are chosen based on pre-studies regarding intra household allocation and we expect those to have an impact on the quota. We find a significant allocation before the tax reform due to the incentives to shift income. In comparison with the results from 1993 we find a significant change in the quota that could indicate reallocation.

Purpose: To assess the gaps between the engagements of shippers (logistics buyers) and logistics service providers (LSPs) in different green logistics practices along the key phases of the logistics purchasing process: request for proposal, negotiations, contracting and execution.

Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a large scale survey of shippers and LSPs in Sweden. 331 companies (169 shippers; 162 LSPs) have responded. Data were analysed using independent sample T- tests and paired sample T-tests.

Findings: While our findings conform with previous studies asserting that LSPs engage more extensively in green logistics practices than shippers do, we show that such situation is not uniformly applicable to all practices nor all purchasing phases; three patterns emerged that depict the gapsbetween the actors’ engagements along the process: (i) steady and wide gap, (ii) steady and narrow gap, and (iii) emergent gap – each gap is associated with distinct practices.

Research limitations/implications: Contributing to the green logistics purchasing literature by creating three types of distinctions: (i) between shippers and LSPs, (ii) between different green logistics practices, and (iii) between different logistics purchasing phases. The survey covered actors in Sweden only, future studies could replicate the analysis in other countries.

Practical implications: Insights are offered for managers within shipper/LSP firms to help them in spotting the green practices that are least focused upon by their partners, thus enabling them to modify their purchasing/marketing strategies accordingly.

Social implications: Potentially contributing in reducing the carbon footprint of the logistics industry.

Original/value: The three types of distinctions is a novel outset within the contract logistics and green supply chain management bodies of literature.

The contract logistics literature implicitly suggests that establishing advanced relationships between shippers (logistics buyers) and logistics service providers (LSPs) plays a role in facilitating green logistics practices. We systematically test this claim through surveying 335 companies (170 shippers; 165 LSPs) in Sweden. Using factor- and multiple regression analyses, we confirm that implementing green logistics practices is influenced by advanced relationships settings, but not all practices adhere to this. Also, a distinction is made on whether relationship advancement is expressed by the contract design or the degree of integration between the partners; the former better explains the implementation of the practices.

The use of external labour such as temporary agency workers in the general workforcehas increased in recent decades, but comparatively little is known about their impactwithin the aged care workforce. This article analyses quantitative data from a census ofaged care facilities and a large-scale survey of their workforce regarding the use andimpact of temporary agency workers on internal workers. It demonstrates that employ-ing temporary agency workers helps address labour shortages generally and skill short-ages in particular. However, it has a negative impact on the job satisfaction of internalpersonal care workers – a predictor of an increase in intention to leave. In contrast,there was little impact on internal nurse satisfaction. The use of temporary agencyworkers could therefore create a paradox: increasing personal care worker numbersin the short term, but negatively impacting on their retention in the long term. Giventhe need for an expanded and sustainable aged care workforce, this finding has import-ant implications for organisations, policy and unions.

The purpose of this study was to examine how innovative solutions within public procurement concerning the elderly with aid decisions affect well-being and economic performance. Many decisions concerning human resources are taken without consideration for its economic effect. This means that measures to achieve improvement in this area are only seen as economic costs for organizations instead of investments since the positive effects on profitability is not calculated. To be able to predict the profitability of measures concerning human resources, there is a need to be able to measure the economic impact of these actions and then get a picture of the total costs of their implementation. In Söderhamns municipality, the distribution of food supplies to the elderly living at home in Trönö/Norrala was transferred to a private company. To measure the impact of this action empirical was data gathered from the municipality concerning current expenses and the nutritional status of the elderly. Interviews and own calculations were made in order to estimate costs that the municipality did not have in its own calculations. The results of this study showed a trend towards increased well-being of the elderly, which could mean a cost reduction in medical costs in the future. The private company that now handles the food distribution also hired more staff, which leads to increased tax revenue for the municipality. Even with these factors, the total cost of the new system is still higher than the old system. However, these factors do mean a lower total cost compared to previous cost estimates of the municipality for the new system. To get a more accurate picture of the total costs off this action more extensive calculations is required. However, this study is a step forward in how these kinds of actions can be measured financially in a way that sees more to how they affect society as a whole instead of just its affect in certain areas.

For many years the policy in Sweden has been to help the elderly to stay in their current homes as long as possible. Is this a good policy for the elderly and is this a good policy from a welfare perspective? The study focused on two aspects of the moving pattern for the elderly. Are the household staying in their current home because it is optimal from the household’s point of view or because there is some kind of transaction cost? Is the optimal solution for the household also the best option for the society as a whole concerning moving chains for all age categories?

This study was carried out in Gävle, a medium sized city of approximately 70 000 inhabitants about 100 km north of Stockholm. The housing market is in general in equilibrium and the prices are about the average for the Swedish housing market which makes Gävle an interesting case. Gävle has also a tradition of researchers active within the housing sector. As an introduction to the main questionnaire study a pilot study was carried out during 2011 focusing on managers and persons living at nursing home in Gävle. The questions were focusing on transaction costs that may arise while moving when you are older. Five managers were interviewed and 18 persons living at different nursing homes.

As an alternative to moving to some kind of elderly living, the elderly can get various kinds of home service for a reduced fee. This means that it is important to separate the question “is the elderly moving to a smaller dwelling (downsizing) at the "right" time?” and the question “are they moving to some kind of elderly living at the "right" time?” As the pilot study showed that the decision to move to elderly living in the form of nursing home often is made by social authorities the focus was shifted to those considering downsizing within the ordinary housing sector. In total 1000 questionnaires was sent out to households in the age group 65-85 year within the ordinary housing sector, out of which 660 answered.

The study has only covered the information aspect to a minor extent, but if a person is satisfied with their current situation, as most households were, it should be lack of incentives rather than lack of information that is that prohibits the move, except for the oldest categories. Concerning the tax system, the study does not indicate that this is something that prohibits the elderly from moving, but this conclusion may depend on the price level of dwellings and it is therefore hard to generalize. Even if the tax system is not a problem, the concern for the monthly expenses is more of a problem. The monthly expenses may increase while downsizing because this may mean a newer and therefore more expensive dwelling. As the social network decreases with age and the health may deteriorate it may be possible to influence especially single-person households over 80 year that live in 3-5 room. Here direct subsidies to downsize and help to find better alternatives – like in U.K - might help elderly to go through with a move.

For many years, it has been policy in Sweden to help elderly people remain in their current homes for as long as possible. Earlier research has been performed in the USA (Gibler and Clements III, 2011) and in China (Jia and Heath, 2016), but these questions remain understudied in Sweden. Kulander (2018) showed a model of the demand for adapted houses that was designed and tested on data gathered in Gävle in 2012. The method uses a binary choice model with stated preference data. In this article, we would like to test this model on a more general basis to see whether the result is the same no matter if the respondents live in an urban or rural area. An argument is that urban areas have a higher population density and thus higher taxes, higher demands on property and greater spread in the demography. This could be set in relation to the more rural areas characterized by low population density where the younger generation move to urban areas where the jobs are, which in turn creates supply of properties higher than the demand. In order to capture the pattern of the life cycle in housing, data for this paper has been gathered in Stockholm, Vallentuna, Uppsala, Sundsvall, Vansbro, Sollefteå, Torsby, Ragunda and Överkalix during 2015. From 7000 questionnaires that has been sent responses from about 40 % persons was received. Data indicate a difference between rural and urban areas as expected.

This thesis consists of four empirically oriented papers on central bank independence (CBI) reforms.   

Paper [1] is an investigation of why politicians around the world have chosen to give up power to independent central banks, thereby reducing their ability to control the economy. A new data-set, including the possible occurrence of CBI-reforms in 132 countries during 1980-2005, was collected. Politicians in non-OECD countries were more likely to delegate power to independent central banks if their country had been characterized by high variability in inflation and if they faced a high probability of being replaced. No such effects were found for OECD countries.   

Paper [2], using a difference-in-difference approach, studies whether CBI reform matters for inflation performance. The analysis is based on a dataset including the possible occurrence of CBI-reforms in 132 countries during the period of 1980-2005. CBI reform is found to have contributed to bringing down inflation in high-inflation countries, but it seems unrelated to inflation performance in low-inflation countries.   

Paper [3] investigates whether CBI-reforms are important in reducing inflation and maintaining price stability, using a random-effects random-coefficients model to account for heterogeneity in the effects of CBI-reforms on inflation. CBI-reforms are found to have reduced inflation on average by 3.31 percent, but the effect is only present when countries with historically high inflation rates are included in the sample. Countries with more modest inflation rates have achieved low inflation without institutional reforms that grant central banks more independence, thus undermining the time-inconsistency theory case for CBI. There is furthermore no evidence that CBI-reforms have contributed to lower inflation variability   

Paper [4] studies the relationship between CBI and a suggested trade-off between price variability and output variability using data on CBI-levels, and data the on implementation dates of CBI-reforms. The results question the existence of such a trade-off, but indicate that there may still be potential gains in stabilization policy from CBI-reforms.

A difference-in-difference approach was used to investigate whether central bank independence (CBI) reforms matter for inflation, based on a novel dataset including the possible occurrence of such reforms in 132 countries during the period 1980 to 2005. CBI-reforms are found to have contributed to bringing down high inflation rates where those existed, but they seem unrelated to performance in low-inflation countries

Den internationella utvecklingen när det gäller huspriser och en kraftig ökning av antalet hushåll som tvingas sälja sin bostad leder naturligtvis till frågan om samma sak kommer att hända här. Utifrån den negativa internationella bilden kan man säga att resultaten av denna studie i huvudsak ger skäl till en mer optimistisk bild av situationen:- Den genomsnittliga belåningsgraden är relativt låg (drygt 60%) , även om det var en fjärdedel som hade en belåningsgrad på över 88%.- En mycket liten grupp av hushållen oroar sig för inte klara sina boendekostnader. Endast 2% kände en stor oro och förklaringen är rimligen att inkomstnivå är relativt hög bland de hushåll som köpt bostad under den aktuella tiden. I media har rapporterats att det skett en kraftig procentuell ökning av antalet exekutiva auktioner, men det är viktigt att notera att detta räknas från en mycket låg nivå i absoluta tal och därför motsäger inte detta resultatet i denna studie som pekar på att enbart en mycket liten grupp av hushåll kommer att drabbas av detta. Även om det är en tragedi i det enskilda falletär det därför inte troligt att det blir ett stort samhällsekonomiskt problem eller att det blir storakreditförluster för bankerna.Ska man peka på några oroande drag är det:- Många hushåll har alla lån på rörlig ränta vilket kan ge stora utgiftsökningar om räntorna stiger. Eftersom räntehöjningar normalt sker i uppåtgående konjunkturer kan det dock mycket väl vara så att hushållen klarar dessa höjningar.- Många hushåll amorterar inget och det gör att den långsiktiga belåningsgraden kan bli ett problem. Även om huspriserna inte fallit nämnvärt hittills, bedömer de flesta experter att huspriserna även i Sverige långsiktigt kommer att falla och då kan amorteringsbehovet öka. Avslutningsvis kan man säga att en orsak till husköparnas relativt goda ekonomiska situation är att man har gjort en "boendekarriär". De allra flesta har ägt en bostadsrätt eller egnahem redan innan och prisökningarna under de sista 5-10 åren har rimligen bidragit till att denna grupp har kunna bygga upp ett betydande eget kapital. Samtidigt har naturligtvis denna utveckling gjort det svårare att ta steget från hyresrätt till ägd bostad.