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On Tuesday the study Institutional Reform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: An Agenda for Europe was presented in Stockholm. The study is part of Fires, a research program funded by the European Commission. The seminar was jointly organized by the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) and the European Commission’s Representation in Sweden. In a panel Jeanette Andersson, Angel Investor, Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, MEP, Magnus Henrekson, IFN, Håkan Hillefors, Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation, and Peter Voigt, EU Commission, discussed the European entrepreneurial eco system or the lack thereof.

Former US President Bill Clinton has described Hernando de Soto as “the world’s most important living economist.” Mr. de Soto visited Sweden in May 2017 to receive the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. In this pod he takes the listeners into the world where he grew up and tells us why he returned to Peru to start his today renowned think tank the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD). And he explains how property rights can eradicate poverty!

Hernando de Soto, founder of the think-tank Institute of Liberty and Democracy (ILD), in Lima, Peru, has been awarded the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research 2017. "Five billion people are poor because they are not part of social networks of trust," said Soto when he received the award in Stockholm, Sweden. The award was presented by Minister for Finance Magdalena Andersson. During his prize lecture Mr. de Soto showed his passport and credit card to illustrate property rights; how people in developed countries can easily travel and do business, where people in poor countries are only trusted in smaller circles.

Institutional Reform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: An Agenda for Europe (SpringerBrief in Economics 2017) is the title of a recently published book authored by the IFN researchers Niklas Elert, Magnus Henrekson and Mikael Stenkula. The study was conducted within the framework of the EU project Fires. The authors propose a series of institutional reforms to promote entrepreneurship, innovation and growth. A European reform agenda should have its eyes set on liberalization, the authors argue. Though, "it falls on reformers to creatively package the principles into institutional designs that are sensitive to local constraints and take advantage of local opportunities".

On Wednesday Ashwini Agrawal, London School of Economics, presented a study at IFN. The question asked in the study is whether mergers can have positive spillover effects on workers. It is often assumed that mergers lead to mass layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. Agrawal and his co-author find that information technology plays a major role in explaining M&A activity.  The authors observe that workers of acquired firms, who are exposed to upgrades in production technologies, after their employers are acquired by IT-intensive firms experience higher long-run wages and shorter spells of unemployment.

Niclas Berggren, Associate Professor and Program Director at IFN, has been elected to the board of the European Public Choice Society. This happened at the annual EPCS conference held in Budapest April 19-22. EPCS is an association of mainly European researchers in political economics/public choice/institutional economics. The organization's purpose is to promote scientific research on the economic and interdisciplinary analysis of non-market decision making processes and institutions. Henrik Jordahl, IFN, has previously served as a board member of EPCS.

Andreas Bergh, IFN, is part of a newly appointed commission on the Swedish future collective bargaining model. It is Ledarna (Union representing managers) that has appointed the inquiry. The goal is a more modern, more well-oiled model than today's contractual structure, including a controversy between the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise about the industrial sector’s normative agreement in regards to wages. "In addition Ledarna argue that globalization, digitalization and individualization contribute to the need for an improved dialogue in the labor market," the daily paper Dagens Nyheter noted.

On Thursday the EEAG Report 2017 was presented at a seminar in Stockholm. What drives populism, asked Professor Clemens Fuest, CESifo, Munich, at the seminar titled “Economic policy and the rise of populism”. His answer was the large influx of immigrants, but also globalization and people’s perception of losing out. In a panel Professor Fuest was joined by Karolina Ekholm, State Secretary to the Minister for Finance, Assar Lindbeck, Professor IFN and Stockholm University and Alice Teodorescu, Editor-in-chief for opinion at Göteborgs-Posten.

This week Mark Thurber, Associate Director for Research at the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University, visited IFN. His research includes various aspects of the use of energy sources, which is a hot topic in today’s United States as President Trump has said that he “will put an end to the war on coal”. Thurber explains that “as long as gas prices are low there will not be much coal used in the electricity sector”.

The article "The right look," by Niclas Berggren, Henrik Jordahl (IFN) and Panu Poutvaara, was during the last 90 days the most downloaded text of all published by the Journal of Public Economics. The researche shows that conservative politicians are better looking and that this might create an overall advantage for conservative parties. "We are both happy for and surprised by the great interest in our research on the role of beauty in politics – in particular, we find that beauty can be found to characterize and benefit politicians on the right," said Niclas Berggren.

On March 22, the 20th edition of the European Perspective, entitled The trust in the EU at a crossroads, was presented in Malmö Börshus. Almost 200 participants had come to listen to panel discussions with the authors of the anthology. Lars Oxelheim, who is affiliated to the IFN, organized the event – which was sponsored by the EU Representation in Stockholm. One of the authors, IFN-researcher Andreas Bergh, asked whether confidence in Europe is threatened by the increased migration. He presented the answers given in his chapter in the book.

On Wednesday Margarita Tsoutsoura, University of Chicago, presented a study – “Firm Growth and Labor Reallocation after Exposure of Corrupt Practices”– during an academic seminar at IFN. Coming from Greece, she explained, "I certainly can see the value in good government and fighting corruption". Adding that she wants to better understand how corruption affects the economy in general and firms in particular. Margarita Tsoutsoura's research also include studies of tax evasion and corporate governance.

At a seminar in Swedish Parliament Mikael Stenkula, IFN, commented a new report, Marginalskatter och Sveriges konkurrenskraft (Almega) by Anders Ydstedt, Scantech. The author noted that Sweden has the world's highest marginal tax rates. One of the entrepreneurs interviewed for the report said that two thirds of the doctors employed at the medical centers owned by his company, are working part-time because it does not pay to work more. Mikael Stenkula commented that the report is well written but that he would have liked more of an entrepreneurial perspective. He also explained that it is difficult and thus gives uncertain result to estimate the impact in absolute terms by changes in the tax system.

Hernando de Soto is the 2017 winner of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. Mr de Soto received the Award "for developing a new under-standing of the institutions that underpin the informal economy as well as the role of property rights and entrepreneurship in converting the informal economy into the formal sector."

Some 20 Norwegian business executives, who participate in the Executive MBA program at the Business School in Kristiansand, visited IFN on Tuesday. Professor Magnus Henrekson, managing director of IFN, presented the book Understanding Entrepreneurship – Definition, Function, and Policy. Magnus Henrekson defined entrepreneurship as "an individual's ability and willingness to independently or within organizations discover and create new economic opportunities," etcetera.

In Sweden, in contrast to other countries, the wealth is more evenly distributed thanks to inheritance. This is the gist of an article by Mikael Elinder, Oscar Erixson and Daniel Waldenström, IFN, in the latest issue of Ekonomisk Debatt. "Somewhat surprisingly, we find that inheritance tax increased wealth inequality" the researchers write. In the same issue of Ekonomisk Debatt Johanna Rickne, affiliated to IFN, and Olle Folke, Uppsala University, show that promotion to a top job often lead to divorce for women but not for men. "Our results indicate that promotions trigger divorce when it is contrary to earlier expectations, and social norms, relative to certain levels of paid and unpaid household work," the researchers write.

The Swedish welfare state is step-by-step heading towards a much worse crisis than in the 1990s, explains Mårten Blix, IFN, in his new book Digitalization, Immigration and the Welfare State (Edward Elgar Publishing). He writes that digital technologies are set to strengthen already existing trends towards job and wage polarization. He points out that the automation in the work place makes it increasingly difficult to maintain high income taxes and payroll taxes.

Magnus Henrekson, IFN, and Åsa Hansson, Lund University and affiliated to IFN, spoke on Wednesday at a seminar in Swedish Parliament. The Tax Committee had gathered Swedish tax experts to discuss "tax reform 25 years – its history and future." Two former ministers opened the seminar: Erik Åsbrink and Bo Lundgren. Followed by Magnus Henrekson who explained how taxation is linked to entrepreneurship and growth. Åsa Hansson sorted out the concepts of uniform and optimal taxation.

On Thursday January 19, Henrik Jordahl, IFN, presented a report he authored in collaboration with David Sundén: ”Vinstbegränsningar i välfärden” (“Profit caps in the welfare sector”, published by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise). The report shows the socio-economic impact of introducing the kind of profit caps suggested by Illmar Reepalu in a report to the government. Jordahl explained that the bases for the Reepalu report are false. For example, there is no big money to be made from the so-called leakage of tax revenue from for-profit firms in the welfare sector. "We are talking about 6 per mille of the costs for these services," he said.