Although it is important to establish causal relationships in social policy evaluation, the effects are difficult to observe due to sample selection. To evaluate the performance of estimators designed to handle sample selection bias, we analyze data from a Norwegian rehabilitation project with a...

Explanations of technological diffusion focus on information being spread by epidemic processes, on profit heterogeneity, or oligopolistic competition. The model in this paper integrates the epidemic and the heterogeneity-based approaches. Predictions are tested on Norwegian data concerning the...

"Generational accounts" measure the fiscal sustainability of the public sector. We ask whether contributions from the Government Pension Fund and remaining oil and gas wealth in the ground, together with the pension reform taking effect in 2011, are sufficiently large to secure generational...

The welfare state provides universal insurance for workers against accidents in the workplace. In equilibrium, this insurance does not generate adverse safety incentives to firms. Noninternalized insurance makes workers sort themselves nonoptimally to firms and choose higher individual effort...

We explore optimal search for individual improvement when agents start with different confidence in their own ability. The initial self-confidence may be determined by nature or socioeconomic factors. Presuming Bayesian learning, we show that final achievements depend positively on initial...

This paper discusses individual agents' incentives to take precautions to prevent accidents when the prevention technology facing the agents is changed due to regulation. It is shown that private prevention activities vary greatly with different attitudes towards risk. This is a great potential...

We show that social disability insurance may better society-wide welfare even when there is a perfect private market for similar insurance. In essence, the public system complements the private. The latter cover risks when personal characteristics are known, whereas the first mitigates effects...

In a large representative sample of young Norwegian workers, we estimate gross transitions to unemployment, education, and other exits in a multinomial logit. In line with received literature, we find that individuals with high education, experience, and income have significantly lower...

The authors investigate the intergenerational welfare implications of generational accounting when it is used as the basis for intertemporal fiscal policy decisions. In particular, they consider an economy with a PAYGO social security system out of steady state due to a permanent fall in...