Showing papers by "Anders Björklund published in 2003"

Is There a Glass Ceiling in Sweden

Abstract: Using 1998 data, we show that the gender log wage gap in Sweden increases throughout the wage distribution and accelerates in the upper tail. We interpret this as a strong glass ceiling effect. We use quantile regression decompositions to examine whether this pattern can be ascribed primarily to gender differences in labor market characteristics or in the rewards to those characteristics. Even after extensive controls for gender differences in age, education (both level and field), sector, industry, and occupation, we find that the glass ceiling effect we see in the raw data persists to a considerable extent.

Nigrostriatal alpha-synucleinopathy induced by viral vector-mediated overexpression of human alpha-synuclein: a new primate model of Parkinson's disease.

Abstract: We used a high-titer recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector to express WT or mutant human α-synuclein in the substantia nigra of adult marmosets. The α-synuclein protein was expressed in 90–95% of all nigral dopamine neurons and distributed by anterograde transport throughout their axonal and dendritic projections. The transduced neurons developed severe neuronal pathology, including α-synuclein-positive cytoplasmic inclusions and granular deposits; swollen, dystrophic, and fragmented neuritis; and shrunken and pyknotic, densely α-synuclein-positive perikarya. By 16 wk posttransduction, 30–60% of the tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neurons were lost, and the tyrosine hydroxylase-positive innervation of the caudate nucleus and putamen was reduced to a similar extent. The rAAV-α-synuclein-treated monkeys developed a type of motor impairment, i.e., head position bias, compatible with this magnitude of nigrostriatal damage. rAAV vector-mediated α-synuclein gene transfer provides a transgenic primate model of nigrostriatal α-synucleinopathy that is of particular interest because it develops slowly over time, like human Parkinson's disease (PD), and expresses neuropathological features (α-synuclein-positive inclusions and dystrophic neurites, in particular) that are similar to those seen in idiopathic PD. This model offers new opportunities for the study of pathogenetic mechanisms and exploration of new therapeutic targets of particular relevance to human PD.

Neural transplantation for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Abstract: trials showed unequivocally that human fetal dopaminergicneurons can survive and function for more than 10 years inthe striatum of patients with PD and show no signs of beingaffected by the ongoing disease process. These studies have also provided a clear indication that grafted fetaldopaminergic neurons can be therapeutically effective. On thebasis of the limited, but encouraging, observations in theseearly open-label trials,

Income Inequality and Income Mobility in the Scandinavian Countries Compared to the United States

Abstract: This paper compares income inequality and income mobility in the Scandinavian countries and the United States during 1980-90. The results suggest that inequality is greater in the United States than in the Scandinavian countries and that this inequality ranking of countries remains unchanged when the accounting period of income is extended from one to eleven years. The pattern of mobility turns out to be remarkably similar, in the sense that the proportionate reduction in inequality from extending the accounting period of income is much the same. But we do find evidence of greater dispersion of first differences of relative earnings and income in the United States. Relative income changes are associated with changes in labor market and marital status in all four countries, but the magnitude of such changes are largest in the United States.

Family background and school performance during a turbulent era of school reforms

Abstract: In the 1990s, Swedish education policy took several steps towards more decentralization and more room for parental school choice. The decade was also a turbulent one in other respects, with high unemployment and major cuts in school budgets. We study the relationship between pupils’ school performance and their family background during this period of time. We use large register-based data sets and employ the grade average at age 16 as our measure of school performance. We also use register-based information to construct two alternative measures of family background. The first measure – the grade correlation between siblings born within three years of time – is a broad one and captures family as well as community factors shared by siblings. The second one – the association between grades and parental earnings – is a more narrow one. Surprisingly, we find that both relationships were remarkably stable over this turbulent period of time.