Stock market participation is found to be positively related to cognitive, as well as non-cognitive ability, controlling for wealth, income, age, and other demographic and socioeconomic factors. Interestingly, the effects are of economic significant magnitudes, e.g. participation is on average 11.49% larger among those with high compared with low cognitive and non-cognitive abilities, and holds also when controlling for individuals risk preferences. The later indicates that cognitive and non-cognitive abilities have a role in affecting financial decisions also through non-preference driven effects. Limitations in non-cognitive ability do further explain non-participation among affluent individuals.

This paper concerns amalgamation impacts on local public expenditures. The empirical analysis is based on the extensive 1952 municipal reform in Sweden. The 1952 reform amalgamated municipalities in a way that they had at least 2,000–3,500 inhabitants. This was done in the belief that larger municipalities would improve administration efficiency and public services by exploiting economies of scale. The results show that the reform had a negative impact on expenditures as long as the municipalities did not exceed a critical size.

This paper studies what factors determine the expenditures on rescue services by municipalities in Sweden. The main purpose is to identify spatial spillover effects between municipalities in order to analyse strategic behaviour. The analysis is based on a joint product model, where collective security is assumed to contain local and regional public good elements. In the empirical analysis we find that the reaction functions are negatively sloped, meaning that we cannot reject the hypothesis of free riding behaviour. It is also found that rescue services can be considered a normal good and that the municipalities respond positively to security policy threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to study whether the central government in Sweden approves applications for temporary grants from municipalities according to political objectives. We also study factors that determine the municipal decision to apply for temporary grants. Two hypotheses are tested, that the central government supports municipalities with many swing voters in order to influence voters, and that the central government provides benefits to groups that share its ideology and that provide political support. Data is used from three election years 1982, 1985, and 1988. Under the Socialist governments municipalities with a high share of Socialist voters were more likely to apply for grants. The same pattern does not apply to the 1982 Conservative government. There is evidence that Socialist governments approved temporary grants on the basis of party tactical criteria. However, there is no indication of vote purchasing behaviour by the 1982 Conservative government.

This paper studies the effects of the Swedish child-care fee reform on public expenditures and taxation in the municipalities. The reform implied a common system of child-care fees among all the municipalities and was introduced in 2002. In order to study its effects, we employ a difference-in-difference approach, where outcomes are compared with respect to differences in the municipalities' pre-reform fee systems. It was found that pre-reform characteristics determine taxes and expenditures in the post-reform period. We then discuss the likely causes of these differences and find that the reform did change the child-care demand in municippalities that had applied time rates relative to those who applied income dependent fees prior to reform. Changes in child-care quality were not connected to the pre-reform fee systems characteristics.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of psychological traits on earnings differentials between second-generation immigrants and individuals with native-born parents. The study is based on a cohort of men born in 1973 and residing in Sweden in 1990. In this paper, we use an indicator of psychological ability measured in connection with the military enlistment test in Sweden. The results show that the measure of psychological traits is an important determinant of earnings at the age of 30. Using an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, we find that earnings differentials between second-generation immigrants and individuals with native-born parents are explained, to a large degree, by differences in endowments of psychological traits.

The purpose of our study was to examine the effect of military training on the earnings of young men in Sweden. The analysis is based on the cohort of males born in 1973. This cohort was conscripted during a time of rapid change in Swedish security policy and substantial cutbacks in the armed forces. As a consequence, a relatively large proportion of the cohort was assigned a service category after the enlistment test but one third of these individuals were never conscripted. We argue that these organizational changes, along with data on important background variables, make it possible to rely on selection on observables. A clear finding is that military training has a positive effect on annual earnings at the age of 30 for those men in the category 'private soldier' who do not subsequently obtain a high level of educational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyse amalgamation impacts on local population and income growth as well as whether voluntary amalgamations are more efficient compared to compulsory amalgamations. The empirical analysis is based on data for 1,005 Swedish municipalities for the period 1953-1959, i.e. a six-year period after the 1952 municipal reform. The reform was state imposed and 66 percent of the newly formed municipalities were amalgamated on a compulsory basis. The results show that amalgamations had a positive effect on population growth in small municipalities. The main finding in the paper is that municipalities formed on a voluntary basis had higher population growth compared to municipalities formed on a compulsory basis. One conclusion is that local opinions are important to consider when forming a new local government structure.

The main purpose of the paper is to analyse if the Swedish municipal reform in 1952 affected subsequent income growth and population movements. The empirical analysis is conducted using data for the period 1953 to 1959. The main result is that the municipal amalgamations had no effect on the municipal income growth patterns. However, a positive effect on population growth is found for the municipalities that were small in size prior to the reform. It is also found that the composition of the municipalities formed affected subsequent growth.

This paper concerns municipal preferences for state-imposed municipal amalgamations, focusing on factors that may explain municipal acceptance of, or objection to, a state-imposed amalgamation decision. The empirical analysis is based on the extensive municipal reform that occurred in Sweden in 1952, which reduced the number of municipalities from 2498 to 1037. In 66 per cent of the amalgamated cases, at least one municipality complained. The results show that income differences affected the willingness to amalgamate; high-income municipalities opposed amalgamation with less wealthy municipalities. The results also indicate that the size (absolute and relative) of the municipalities affected their willingness to amalgamate. Small and large municipalities were most likely to accept the amalgamation decision and equally sized municipalities were less likely to amalgamate voluntarily.

In this paper new and detailed empirical evidence on the impact of family on individuals’ stock market participation decision is provided. Since influence is likely to vary systematically over different types of individuals the heterogeneous effect of social interaction, in a setting including both community as well as within-family effects, is further examined. The main results indicate that individuals’ likelihood for subsequent participation increases (decreases) following positive (negative) parental and partner stock market experiences. The effect of social interaction is further found to be of relatively greater importance for individuals with relatively lower levels of financial literacy and for individuals with an on average higher level of interpersonal trust. In terms of gender, both male and female participation is positively affected by family influence, while community effects mainly pertain to males.

This paper studies earnings and labor force participation of native Swedes and recent immigrants in Sweden in response to the childcare reforms of 2001 and 2002 using a difference-in-differences approach and register-based data for the period of 1995–2009. Immigrant and native Swedish mothers are distinguished in order to study if increased accessibility to childcare might be particularly beneficial for groups facing obstacles in entering the labor market. The results show that the reforms had a positive effect on earnings and labor force participation among native mothers with preschool children. The group of immigrant mothers studied did not experience any gain in labor market outcomes as a response to the reform.