This paper presents a number of approaches to estimate returns to scale properties of general multiple-input muliple-output technologies. Both qualitative scale efficiency-properties and quantitative scale elasticity-properties are covered. The estimation approaches considered are based on data...

The paper investigates the redistributive effects of the Swedish health care financing system in 1980 and 1990 for four different financial sources: County council taxes, payroll taxes, direct payments oand state grants. The redistributive effects are decomposed into vertical, horizontal and...

The paper presents a theoretical alternative to the commonly held belief that poison pills affect shareholder wealth negatively. Specifically, the paper models how ex ante shareholder wealth can be maximized with contractual provisions that resemble poison pill plans and, reversely, voluntary...

The average cesarean section rate in Sweden more than doubled during the 1970s, and amounted to 12-3 percent in 1983. After that, there was a steady-state for a couple of years and towards the end of the 80s even a small decrease, to 10.9 percent in 1990. In the early 90s, there was a slight...

This paper attempts to review the argument that EMU leads to benefits from lower exchange rate uncertainty. Two questions are addressed. First, there is the microeconomic question of how exchange rate uncertainty affects firms. Second, there is the macroeconomic question of how EMU will be...

The main purpose of the paper is to provide a mathematical background for the theory of bond markets similar to that available for stock markets. We suggest two constructions of stochastic integrals with respect to processes taking values in a space of continuous functions. Such integrals are...

We study three necessary conditions for work sharing to increase employment. First, there must exist a negative long-run relation between working time and employment. Second, hours per worker must be exogenous with respect to wages and employment. Third, policy makers must be able to influence...

What goes steady with private savings? This paper investigates reasons for the sustained growth in private savings in Indonesia since 1970, in a period characterized by economic growth, demographic changes, terms of trade movements, and financial liberalization. The main finding is that...

We study the effect of political polarization on public spending using the dispersion of self-reported political preferences as our measure of polarization. Political polarization is strongly associated with smaller government in democratic countries, but there is no relationship between...

This paper extends standard consumer theory to account for endogenous moral motivation. Building on cognitive dissonance theory, I show how moral values are affected by changes in prices and income. The key insight is that changes in prices and income that lead to higher consumption of an...