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Showing papers by "Stockholm School of Economics published in 1996"


Book
01 Jan 1996
TL;DR: The authors used a general equilibrium search model in which workers accumulate skills on the job and lose skills during unemployment, and impute the higher unemployment to welfare states' diminished ability to cope with more turbulent economic times, such as the ongoing restructuring from manufacturing to the service industry, adoption of new information technologies, and rapidly changing international economy.
Abstract: Post‐World War II European welfare states experienced several decades of relatively low unemployment, followed by a plague of persistently high unemployment since the 1980s. We impute the higher unemployment to welfare states' diminished ability to cope with more turbulent economic times, such as the ongoing restructuring from manufacturing to the service industry, adoption of new information technologies, and a rapidly changing international economy. We use a general equilibrium search model in which workers accumulate skills on the job and lose skills during unemployment.

984 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a model which operationalizes the different principles in lean production, with a focus on those that concern the work organization in the manufacturing part of a company.
Abstract: Develops a model which operationalizes the different principles in lean production, with a focus on those that concern the work organization in the manufacturing part of a company. The model has been developed using available theory and has also been tried out in a clinical field study. The model has implications both for research and practice. For research, it can be used as a model for operationalizing lean production to be able to study change processes properly. In practice, the model can be used as a tool to assess the development taking place in an effort to become lean. Finally, it can be used as a checklist for what to aim at when trying to implement lean production. Lean should be seen as a direction, rather than as a state to be reached after a certain time and, therefore, the focus lies on the changes in the determinants, not on their actual values.

644 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a Lagrange multiplier (LM) test for the hypothesis of no error autocorrelation and LM-type tests for the hypotheses of no remaining nonlinearity and that of parameter constancy are proposed.

596 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a life cycle framework was proposed, and used to explore the factors associated with the gain, development and loss of mandates by subsidiaries, and it was shown that there is a risk in having a full-scope world product mandate because it is possible to become marginal to the corporate strategy.
Abstract: A subsidiary mandate is a business, or element of a business, in which the subsidiary participates and for which it has responsibilities beyond its national market. This research studied thirty-one mandates in six Canadian subsidiaries of U.S.-owned multinational corporations. A life-cycle framework was proposed, and used to explore the factors associated with the gain, development and loss of mandates by subsidiaries. Two key findings emerged. First, it was shown that there is a risk in having a full-scope world product mandate, because it is possible to become marginal to the corporate strategy. Second, it was observed that the engine of subsidiary growth is its distinctive capabilities, and that for a mandate to be effective it must be built on those capabilities. Implications for mandate sustainability are proposed on the basis of these two insights.

586 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined shares of fixed capital formation in GOP and rates of economic growth for more than 100 countries over successive 5-year periods between 1965 and 1985 to determine the direction of causality between them.
Abstract: This paper examines shares of fixed capital formation in GOP and rates of economic growth for more than 100 countries over successive 5-year periods between 1965 and 1985 to determine the direction of causality between them. Simple regressions and multiple regressions including several standard determinants of growth, as well as a simple causality test, provide more evidence that increases in growth precede rises in rates of capital formation than that increases in capital formation precede increases in growth. High rates of fixed capital formation accompany rapid growth in per capita income, but we find no evidence that fixed investment is the only or main source of ignition for economic growth.

461 citations


Book ChapterDOI
TL;DR: The predominant view in the literature on foreign direct investment is that various types of spillover may provide important benefits for the countries that host foreign multinational corporations as discussed by the authors, and that the competitive pressure exerted by foreign affiliates has forced local firms to operate more efficiently and introduce new technologies earlier than would otherwise have been the case.
Abstract: The predominant view in the literature on foreign direct investment is that various types of spillover may provide important benefits for the countries that host foreign multinational corporations. For example, numerous case studies have shown that the technology and productivity of local firms may improve as foreign firms enter the market and demonstrate new products and technologies, provide technical assistance to their local suppliers and customers, and train workers and managers who are later employed by local firms. There are also reports that the competitive pressure exerted by foreign affiliates has forced local firms to operate more efficiently and introduce new technologies earlier than would otherwise have been the case (see Chapter 8 for a review of the literature).

402 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the importance of inter-industry sources in contributing to lock-in and the possibilities of escape from it, including crisis in existing technology, regulation, technological breakthroughs, changes in taste, emergence of niche markets, and new scientific results.

346 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of multinational corporations in international technology transfer has been discussed, and it has been suggested that a large share of the host countries' benefits from foreign direct investment may come in the form of external effects or "spillovers".
Abstract: In the debate on the role of multinational corporations in international technology transfer, it has often been suggested that a large share of the host countries’ benefits from foreign direct investment may come in the form of external effects or ‘spillovers’. MNCs may, for example, introduce new technologies that are imitated by local producers, or train workers whose specific skills spill over when they set up their own firms or are hired by existing local firms. These benefits can be characterized as effects of contagion and demonstration. Other effects are related to competition, and occur when local firms are forced to become more productive — by introducing new technologies or increasing X-efficiency — in order to survive in markets where foreign affiliates are present.

340 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, absenteeism is modelled as an individual day-to-day decision, using a linear demand function, frequently used in labour supply studies, and the parameters in the econometric model are consistently estimated, using the (timeaggregated) number of days absent in 1981 as the dependent variable for a sample of Swedish blue-collar workers (both men and women), under some assumptions on unobserved heterogeneity and serial correlation.

246 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that numerically equal gains may differ in their meaning depending on baseline health status and it is recommended that distribution of baseline healthStatus measures and distribution of responders by baseline status be reported in evaluative studies.

222 citations


Book
31 May 1996
TL;DR: This paper presents a meta-analysis of the literature on welfare economics and its applications to the context of health policymaking, aiming at determining the most appropriate approach to policy-making on the basis of available evidence.
Abstract: List of Figures. List of Tables. Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Welfare Economics. 3. The Monetary Value of Health Changes. 4. The Resource Consequences of Health Changes. 5. The Revealed Preference Approach. 6. The Expressed Preference Approach. 7. The Estimation of Costs. 8. Additional Issues in Cost-Benefit Analysis. 9. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. 10. Cost-Utility Analysis. 11. Economic Evaluation and Policy Making. 12. Concluding Remarks. Index.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Two different kinds of changes, sudden or 'blip' changes and persistent changes, respectively, are considered within a model in which both the marginal rate of time preference and the survival probability are age-dependent.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown how fixed budgets or predetermined prices per effectiveness unit can be used as decision rules to maximise health effects and to determine which programmes to implement on the basis of incremental cost-effectiveness ratios.
Abstract: It has become increasingly popular to carry out cost-effectiveness analyses in economic evaluations of healthcare programmes. Cost-effectiveness analysis is based on the maximisation of the health effects for a given amount of resources. However, many published studies fail to report the results of cost-effectiveness analysis in a way that is consistent with this underlying aim. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the decision rules of cost-effectiveness analysis in an easily accessible way for practitioners in the field. A hypothetical example is used to demonstrate the decision rules of cost-effectiveness analysis, and we also show how to estimate the appropriate incremental cost-effectiveness ratios and how to exclude dominated alternatives. It is then shown how fixed budgets or predetermined prices per effectiveness unit can be used as decision rules to maximise health effects and to determine which programmes to implement on the basis of incremental cost-effectiveness ratios. We hope that the article will contribute towards an increased understanding and application of the appropriate decision rules of cost-effectiveness analysis, so that the results of cost-effectiveness analyses can be interpreted meaningfully by decision makers.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 1996-Ethnos
TL;DR: In this paper, cultural theory is used to explain universal bias by way of a general typology of group formation and a concomitant cosmology or world view, and the study of hazards as culturally construed phenomena.
Abstract: ’Cultural theory’, launched by social anthropologist Mary Douglas, has been highly influential in the inter‐disciplinary field concerned with the study of risk perception and risk communication. The theory derives from the grid‐group analyses that Douglas developed in the 1970s. Cultural theory aims to explain universal ‘cultural bias’ by way of a general typology of group formation and a concomitant cosmology or world view. This article critically examines cultural theory and the study of hazards as culturally construed phenomena.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The cost per life-year saved of simvastatin in the treatment of post-myocardial infarction and angina patients, as determined from 4S data, is well within the range normally considered cost-effective.
Abstract: An analysis of the cost-effectiveness of simvastatin was conducted, based on the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S). The total cost of hospitalization in the placebo group was 5·28 million Swedish kronor (SEK) (£5·l5 million), compared with SEK 36·0 million (£3·51 million) in the simvastatin group. This amounts to a 32% reduction, or a saving of SEK 16·8 million (£1·6 million) or SEK 7560 (£738) per patient. The net cost per patient for the duration of the study (5·4 years) was SEK 13 540 (£1324). Simvastatin treatment saved an estimated 0·377 undiscounted life years (0·240 life years discounted at 5% per annum). The cost of simvastatin therapy per discounted life-year saved was therefore SEK 56 400 (£5502) Sensitivity analysis, examining the effect of different life expectancies, costs of initiation and monitoring of simvastatin therapy, and discount rates, showed the results to be stable. Conclusion The cost per life-year saved of simvastatin in the treatment of post-myocardial infarction and angina patients, as determined from 4S data, is well within the range normally considered cost-effective.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the VSB panel was used to answer three questions: (1) Can hypothetical risky choice questions be meaningfully answered by ordinary survey respondents? (2) What are the relationships between different measures of risk attitudes and actual portfolio choices of risky assets? (3) What is the relationship between risk attitude and playing in lotteries, lotto, etc?

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that competence development involves change in the structure of the meaning for practice, which involves both a significant shift from one way of experiencing practice to another, as well as refinement and elaboration of the way of experience practice.
Abstract: In educating for the professions, teachers seek to enable students to engage in professional practice as competent practitioners. In this paper we question the adequacy of traditional approaches for promoting competent practice. These traditional approaches typically view competence in terms of attributes, such as knowledge, skills and attitudes. Competence development is then seen in terms of acquiring the necessary attributes. From an alternative view of competence as based on ways of experiencing practice, we argue that competence development focus on enriching experience of practice. More specifically, we point out that competence development involves change in the structure of the meaning for practice. Change in meaning structure for practice involves both a significant shift from one way of experiencing practice to another, as well as refinement and elaboration of the way of experiencing practice. Implications of this view of competence development for professional education are discussed. In particular, we deal with implications relating to the teaching-learning relation and the form the educational programme takes. In summay, we argue that enabling students to develop competence through experience of engaging in practice is most closely directed to the aims of education for the professions.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In an exploratory study, measures of perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and patronage behavior were collected from customers in four Swedish grocery stores, representing four combinations of profitability and productivity as discussed by the authors.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a class of evolutionary selection dynamics is defined, and the defining property, convex monotonicity, is shown to be sufficient and essentially necessary for the elimination of strictly dominated pure strategies.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the role of the management accounting system in the process of adopting a complex manufacturing strategy, lean production, and find that traditional performance measures have to reach a certain threshold to support the adoption of lean production.
Abstract: Explores the role of the management accounting system in the process of adopting a complex manufacturing strategy, lean production. Finds, in a longitudinal field study, using the clinical methodology, that in order to change the management accounting system to support the adoption of lean production, traditional performance measures have to reach a certain threshold. An important way to create impetus for this change is to raise the level of the unit of analysis in the management accounting system, both horizontally and vertically. Finally, the management accounting system affects the process in three concurrent ways: technically, through its design; formally, through its role in the organization; and cognitively, through the way in which actors think about and use the management accounting system. Proposes that in order for the system to be congruent with lean production principles, all three of these perspectives need to be changed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper found that the average willingness to pay for a program which would increase the expected length of life by one year, conditional on having survived to the age of 75 years, is lower than $1,500.
Abstract: This study reports an attempt to measure the value of an increased survival probability at advanced ages. It turns out that the average willingness to pay for a program which would increase the expected length of life by one year, conditional on having survived to the age of 75 years, is lower than $1,500. The willingness to pay increases with a person's age, but at a low and seemingly constant rate (1–4 percent per year).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that some types of altruists may be willing to pay more for a private risk reduction than for a uniform risk reduction of the same magnitude, but need not.
Abstract: In this study, one group of respondents is offered to purchase a safety device to be installed in their cars, while another group is offered a public safety program (improved road quality) which results in the same size risk reduction. In terms of the value of a statistical life, our results are very reasonable. However, the WTP for the private safety device ishigher than the WTP for the public safety measure. Drawing on a model developed by Jones-Lee (1991), we show that some types of altruists may, but need not, be willing to pay more for a private risk reduction than for a uniform risk reduction of the same magnitude. Still, our empirical results are surprising, and further empirical research seems warranted.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A computer simulation model for calculating the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of treating patients with established osteoporosis in order to reduce the risk of fractures is presented.
Abstract: This study presents the results of a computer simulation model for calculating the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of treating patients with established osteoporosis in order to reduce the risk of fractures. The results are based on Swedish data for risk of fracture and costs. The treatment intervention modelled is based on treatment of a 62-year-old woman with established osteoporosis. The cost per hip fracture avoided is 350000 SEK, assuming a 50% reduction in the risk of fracture due to 5 years of treatment. A sensitivity analysis for changes in the cost and effectiveness of treatment, the risk of fracture and the discount rate is performed. The cost per life-year gained and the cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained is presented to enable comparison of the cost-effectiveness of treating osteoporosis with that of other health care interventions. A comparison between treating the same woman for osteoporosis and mild hypertension shows a cost per life-year gained of 220000 SEK and 128000 SEK respectively. Cost per QALY gained is very similar for the two interventions: 105 000 SEK and 103 000 SEK respectively. This model provides a tool to enable clinicians, administrators and health policy makers to analyze and understand the economic aspects of a major health policy issue.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results of a test of scope and question order effects in a contingent valuation experiment in the health care field indicate that people who suffer from severe reflux oesophagitis are more willing to pay for more effective treatment.
Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the contingent valuation method for measurement of monetary values of various commodities. However, the validity and reliability of the method need to be examined thoroughly. This paper reports results of a test of scope and question order effects in a contingent valuation experiment in the health care field. Using three binary valuation questions, data were collected on willingness to pay for superior treatment of reflux oesophagitis. To test for scope effects, different probabilities of successful short— and long-term treatments were evaluated using a split sample approach. The presence of question order effects was tested by assigning respondents to different question orders. The contingent valuation method proved sensitive to changes in scope in that the willingness to pay increased with the probability of being free from symptoms and with a reduced risk of having a relapse once recovered. Also, regression analyses indicate that people who suffer from severe reflux oesophagitis are more willing to pay for more effective treatment. No question order effects were detected in the data.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this note the veil of ignorance approach is tested as a basis for empirically determining the shape of the social welfare function for QALYs.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The relationship between willingness to pay for health changes, the human-capital approach, and the costs that should be included in a cost-benefit analysis of a health care programme are analysed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, alternative interest rate processes are estimated for Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and the UK, using the generalized method of moments (GMM), and it is found that mean-reversion plays an important role for the specification of the interest rate dynamics.
Abstract: In this paper alternative interest rate processes are estimated for Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and the UK, using the generalized method of moments (GMM). In line with the study by Chan, Karolyi, Longstaff, and Sanders (1992) on US data, there seems to be a positive relation between interest rate level and volatility for some countries. In contrast to their study, it is found that mean-reversion plays an important role for the specification of the interest rate dynamics. The results seem to be robust to the use of different moment conditions, and simulations of the estimated models reveal that they are fairly able to capture non-fitted moments as well. In addition, there is evidence of a structural change in the Danish interest rate process in August 1985, which may be due to a change in monetary policy. The small sample properties of the GMM estimators are also studied through simulations.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Clinical trial findings that treating asthmatic patients with inhaled corticosteroids improves asthma control and reduces the need for hospitalization, seem to be realized in clinical practice.
Abstract: OBJECTIVES. In clinical studies, it has been found that treating asthmatic patients with inhaled corticosteroids can reduce the need for in-patient care. The purpose of this study was to determine if such a relationship could be observed in available health-care statistics in Sweden and, if such a relationship could be established, what health economic consequences it implied. METHODS. A retrospective study was conducted using regional data on acute hospitalization - ie, number of bed-days in acute somatic in-patient care clinics - and sales of anti-asthmatic drugs from 14 health-care administrative regions, covering 6 million people (71% of the Swedish population) between 1978 and 1991. The data were analyzed in multiple regression analyses where time- and cross-section data were pooled. The variation in bed-days was explained by three variables: (1) the sales of inhaled corticosteroids, (2) the total number of bed-days within acute somatic in-patient care, and (3) the sales of inhaled bronchodilators, which were used as a proxy variable for asthma prevalence. RESULTS. The total number of bed-days due to asthma in the 14 county councils did not show any upward or downward trend between 1978 and 1985. However, after 1985, there was a significant downward trend despite an increase in estimated asthma prevalence. Increased sales of inhaled corticosteroids were significantly correlated (P < 0.01) with a reduction in bed-days due to asthma. The model used indicated that an increase in sales of inhaled corticosteroids by 1 defined daily dose (DDD) per day and 1,000 inhabitants gave, on average over the study period, a reduction of 1.5 bed-days for asthma in acute in-patient care per 1,000 inhabitants. CONCLUSIONS. Clinical trial findings that treating asthmatic patients with inhaled corticosteroids improves asthma control and reduces the need for hospitalization, seem to be realized in clinical practice. The increased costs of inhaled corticosteroids to the health-care system were more than offset by a reduction in the costs for acute somatic hospital care. (Less)

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, a random utility maximization (RUM) model of Swedish seaside recreation is used to estimate the benefits from reduced eutrophication of the seas around Sweden.
Abstract: In this paper, a random utility maximization (RUM) model of Swedish seaside recreation is used to estimate the benefits from reduced eutrophication of the seas around Sweden. Sight depth data from around the Swedish coast are used as a quality index related to eutrophication. The model is estimated using the nested multinomial logit (NMNL) and conditional logit (CL) specifications. In order to test the relationship between this quality variable and the nutrient concentration in the water, a regression of sight depth on the concentration of phosphorus and nitrogen has been run. The results are used to make policy simulations. Two sets of such simulations have been undertaken. One set assumes a uniform change of the nutrient load along the entire Swedish coastline. The consumer surplus from a reduction of the nutrient load by 50 percent is estimated to be around 140 mSEK if the NMNL model is used, and 540 mSEK if the CL model is used. The other set of policy simulations assumes a change in the nutrient load in the Laholm Bay in south-west Sweden. The consumer surplus for a 50 percent reduction in the nutrient load in the bay is estimated to be 12 mSEK if the NMNL model is used, and 32 mSEK if the CL model is used.