The Economics of the Service Sector
Sweden is a service economy. Private service producers make up one half of GDP. The manufacturing sector is still going strong, but is increasingly outsourcing parts of the production process to private service companies. Household related services are gaining in importance through piecewise political reforms. Public consumptions amounts to one fourth of GDP and consists almost exclusively of services.
Against this background there is need for emphasizing the service sector in economic research. Within the program IFN will gather research which starts out from the requirements of the service sector and which highlights the sector's potential for employment and economic growth.
Program Director: Henrik Jordahl
Research Projects:
In this project we aim to understand the contributions of intangible investments to innovation, competitiveness, growth and productivity in Europe.
The purpose of this project is to examine the effects of payroll taxes on employment in the service sector. According to economic theory, the effects on employment are ambiguous. On the one hand, payroll tax reductions stimulate demand for labour in the short run. On the other hand, wages may increase in the long run as they are re-negotiated, which tends to reduce employment.
There is a trend towards private production of publicly financed services. The project studies the economic consequences of the choice between public and private production in terms of costs and quality.
The aim of this project is to provide information about the levels and differentiation of minimum wages in Sweden, examine the effects of minimum wages on employment and other outcomes.
A study of the effects of employment protection - in Sweden and in other countries.
In this project we study the importance of producer services for the manufacturing and the service sector, as well as for the entire Swedish economy. The focus is mainly on the outsourcing of producer services and its implications for productivity and labor market outcomes.
In this project we connect the make or buy decision in Swedish municipalities with regional business structure and economic development.
We study the interaction of voters and politicans regarding public services. How do voters react to changes in prices and supply of public services?
This project aims at deepening the study of the intersection between markets and hierarchy/bureaucracy.
byråkrati.
The purpose of the project is to study the effects of subsidized childcare on long run labor supply and access to human capital.
The central role of human capital for productivity is widely acknowledged in the economic sciences. This project studies the distribution of human capital across firms over time.
In this project, we use Swedish data from the military enlistment to study the importance of different personality traits for wages, earnings and unemployment.
This project tests how the option to choose between different schools has affected students’ results. Do school choice and competition between schools lead to better results for all through better quality in all schools, and through a better match between students and schools? Or are there also losers from school choice?
Does taking more math and science in high school affect future employment and earnings? This is investigated in this project, using data on Swedish high school students.