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.
This article describes preliminary results from an ongoing study of the elderly accommodation situation in Gävle – a place situated at commuting-distance from Stockholm. The study is based on a questionnaire that was sent out in March to habitants in the age of 65-85 year, living in different kinds of housing. The question that is in focus is"Do the elderly move at the right time?" Do the elderly move when they, themselves, like to move, or does some kind of transaction cost exist that prohibits the elderly from moving? Transaction costs may arise in different ways – it may be financial or it may be psychological or it may be a combination of both. Questions are asked in the questionnaire that may – or may not - verify certain probable hypothesis. A pilot study has been made through interviews with managers and residents living at nursing homes to get a better overview of the Swedish social insurance system concerning the elderly.