The educational system is perhaps the most important feature for labour market entry. During the last decades huge investments have been made at different levels in this system, the Knowledge lift and a doubling of the number of students in tertiary education are examples, but what are the...

Business angels are a vital source of capital for innovative startup firms. However, even of those startups that have the potential to fulfill angel investors’ expected return on investment, most are rejected during the angel’s investment decision process. Information asymmetry, risk and...

In this paper we conduct a meta-analysis to examine the link between R&D spending and economic growth in the EU and other regions. The results suggest that the growth-enhancing effect of R&D in the EU15 countries does not differ from that in other countries in general, but it is less significant...

Due to their importance for fostering high-growth entrepreneurship, business angels have over the last decades attracted considerable interest among policy-makers around the world. However, most of the policy initiatives to support business angel investing have been made without any strong...

In a much cited 2008 article, Per Pettersson-Lidbom uses regression discontinuity to test for Swedish party effects on economic policies such as municipal taxation, spending and employment. We reassess the issue using the same estimator as Pettersson-Lidbom but new data on all factual...

Empirical studies of international labor migration, modelling average outcomes, suggest migrants move to enhance returns to their labor. In contrast, major international surveys show less than a third of internal migrants as motivated by employment reasons. Using Swedish panel data for the years...

This paper analyses the relationship between competence and virtue. We argue that virtues <p> should be regarded as a kind of competencies, which are essential in an entrepreneurial <p> society, both for individual development and for the sustainability of such a society. Such <p> competencies, or...</p></p></p>

In this paper we analyze whether a firm’s return to its R&D stock is affected by seller-buyer interactions. We suggest that firms that are in close contact with their customers will be relatively more sensitive to their customers’ needs, and therefore adjust their R&D activities accordingly....

In the paper we look at the bank lending routines of Swedish banks and their consequences for <p> external financing of start-ups. Results from a questionnaire sent out to start-ups listed in the files of the Swedish interest organization “NyföretagarCentrum” were used. We looked at firms...</p>

Every year there is a substantial turbulence in an economy with respect to new firm formation and business closures. Each year, according to Tillväxtanalys (2009), about 100 000 Swedish employees lose their job due to a business closure. However, the share of firm closures vary substantially...