IFN in the news

The web magazine 3 Quarks Daily is publishing a text about The Nobel Factor, by Avner Offer and Gabriel Söderberg: "This rather local agenda, pressed by the influential economist Assar Lindbeck [...] was, the authors argue, crucial to explaining the pattern of awards. The authors go so far as to contrast Economics with Social Democracy, in the process identifying the discipline as a whole with its most market‐oriented strand."

Yves Zenou, affiliated tyo IFN, et al argues at Voxeu.org (the policy portar of CEPR) that "being ‘socially’ close to criminal leaders strongly affects a person’s involvement in crime". Sudyingschools in the US, it shows that removing all criminal leaders from a school can, on average, reduce criminal activity by about 20% and the individual probability of becoming a criminal by 10%.

Magnus Henrekson and Johan Wennström, IFN, write in The Quillette about recently published research on the Swedish school system: "Lessons from Sweden indicate that countries with a tradition of social-constructivist practices in their education system, and which are considering implementing or expanding market-based school reforms, should proceed with caution. For example, the U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has stated that she wants to enact a model of school choice that is identical to the one Sweden has."

Candian MTL News asks a number of people what they think "are the most important steps to take to improve California’s shortage of affordable housing?" Lanhee Chen, Stanford University, is one of the respondents that refers to Assar Lindbeck, IFN, who has called rent control "'the best way to destroy a city, other than bombing.' He’s absolutely right. Voters should reject Proposition 10 this Fall."

Sam Dumitriu, in CapX , argues that a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research "focuses on the wrong causes and ignore the real problems" in regards to produtctivity ang growth. He is quoting Magnus Henrekson, IFN: "Economic growth is not primarily about firms growing by a similar percentage or productivity rising in existing jobs because of technological change and more capital per worker. Rather, it comes mainly from churning (firm and job turnover) and restructuring — mostly shifts in production from less to more successful firms”.

The Mail On Sunday writes about an article in NYT referring to research by Erik Lindqvist, Stockholm School of Economics and affiliated to IFN, Robert Ostling, Stockholm University, and David Cesarini, New York University and affiliated to IFN.  The web site points to the research due to falling  lottery ticket sales.

New York Times is writing about research by Erik Lindqvist, Stockholm School of Economics and affiliated to IFN, Robert Ostling, Stockholm University, and David Cesarini, New York University and affiliated to IFN: "New research suggests that more money really does lead to a more satisfying life. Surveys of thousands of Swedish lottery winners have provided persuasive evidence of this truth."

Freedom Bunker, a platform for Libertarian news, is writing about research by Niclas Berggren, IFN, and Christian Bjørnskov, Aarhus University and affiliated to IFN: "Our results indicate that while reforms of government size are not robustly related to satisfaction with democracy, reforms of the other three kinds are—and in a way that runs counter to the anti-liberalization claims."

American F3News writes about the genetic influence on educational attainment. The magazine is referring to David Cesarini, New York University and affiliated to IFN, who is a co-founder of the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium along with Daniel Benjamin and Philipp Koellinger. Their goal was to find a reliable measure of heritable influence on educational attainment so that other researchers could control for genetics in their experiments, the same way they’d control for socioeconomic status or zip code. 

The American Spectator​ writes that the proposal from the Democratic Party in California to combine rent controls and massive subsidaries for renters will have a negative impact on the housing stock. The authors quotes Assar Lindbeck's, IFN, conclusion about the results of rent control: "[...] it appears to be the most efficient technique prensently known to destroy a city — except from bombing". 

South African The Citizen writes that "SA is over-governed and mis-governed, with just 49 of the 263 municipalities receiving clean audits". The author refers to research by Andreas Bergh and Magnus Henrekson, IFN: "[...] in a study of the relationship between the size of government and economic growth, found that big government is not necessarily opposed to growth. It depends on how government spends its money".

 The welfare state is the theme in this article by The Economist. The magazine is refering to research by IFN faculry: "Spending on “social protection” (pensions, benefits and the like) in the OECD club of countries has increased from 5% in the 1960s to 15% in 1980 to 21% in 2016. In a paper published in 2011, two economists, Andreas Bergh and Magnus Henrekson, estimated that a ten-percentage-point increase in the size of the state in rich countries is associated with a fall in the annual rate of GDP growth of 0.5 to one percentage point."

Australian Mirage News writes about research by Yves Zenou, Monash Business School  and affiliated to IFN. "A worldwide expert on network economics [Zenou] established the ‘Key Player’ theory – networks developed from direct interactions between two people and the interconnected links between their friends – which he demonstrated could reduce crime in Sweden by up to 30%."

In an interview in Stanford Business Petra Persson, Stanford University and affiliated to IFN,  explains that the health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could unravel because enrollees strategically drop in and out of coverage. "The end result could be a complete undermining of the market", says Petra Persson.

Stanford Medical Center Report highlights research showing a causal link between fetal stress exposure and mental health later in life. One of the researchers is Petra Persson, affiliated to IFN, and the data in the study are Swedish: “Our study offers complementary evidence linking early-life circumstance to adult mental health, but breaks new ground by focusing on stress, which may be more pertinent than malnutrition in modern developed countries such as the United States and Sweden, and by tracing health outcomes throughout the time period between the fetal shock and adulthood.”

Before its news quotes Assar Lindbeck, IFN and Stockholm University, explaining that “in many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city – except for bombing.” "He’s right on target", the writer argues, "given that rent control destroys housing markets because it takes away the incentive to build new apartments, reduces the willingness of landlords to upgrade and maintain their properties, and encourages tenants to squat indefinitely in their below-market units".

Pay Scale writes that "a new study from Swedish researchers Olle Folke and Johanna Rickne [affiliated to IFN) "found correlations between women getting promoted to the top job in their fields and incidents of divorce". Pay Scale notes that "a top promotion can actually double a woman’s chance of divorce".

"A new publication by Petra Persson [affiliated to IFN] and Maya Rossin-Slater indicates that losing a loved one during pregnancy may actually impact the mental health of the child as he or she grows into adulthood," writes Disrupt Africa, an African startup portal. The text was published by Brinkwire, a hub for blogs, online communities etcetera.

Refering to a study by Johanna Rickne, affiliated to IFN, et al in Fortune states: "A new study by Swedish researchers found that women who begin their marriage either earning less than their husband or not working at all, are significantly more likely to get divorced if their career suddenly surges."

Women's "hard-won successes are taxed in ways that men's are not" writes New York Times. "While winning is the ultimate professional milestone for candidates, a source of elation and pride, for women it is often spoiled, according to the study, by Olle Folke and Johanna Rickne, affiliated to IFN." "In fact, the researchers find several forces that ensure men earn at least a little bit more than their wives."

The Hechinger Report examines how Sweden, New Zealand and France approach the idea of school choice. About Sweden, Jonas Vlachos, Stockholm University and affiliated to IFN, is interviwed saying that "the tension that you see is that if you’re very … laissez-faire about who can run a school, you will end up in a situation that you need more regulation”.

Forbes.com is writing about inflationary pressures in our economy. The writer refers to Lars Oxelheim, Lund University and affiliated to IFN, and a piece by him in FT.  Oxelheim argues that "historical precedence has shown how this supply/demand shift can lead to significantly higher interest rates over a short period of time". 

A Letter to the editor by Lars Oxelheim, Lund University and affiliated to IFN, is published in Financial Times. He argues that a return to inflation and a "normal" economy may result in seizure and death. "To avoid history repeating itself, the tapering should be on hold until we know the magnitude of expansionary fiscal policy by Mr Trump."

In an opinion piece by William Sander, professor at DePaul University, Crain's Chicago Business quotes Assar Lindbeck, IFN and Stockholm University, arguing that "except for bombing, rent control was the best way to destroy a city".

The e-paper LiveMint states that "Mumbai is a poster child for all the harmful ways in which rent control affects the liveability of a city". The writer quotes Assar Lindbec k, IFN, saying that next to bombing“rent control seems in many cases to be the most efficient technique so far known for destroying cities.

CEPR's policy portan Vox is publishing an article by David Seim, Stockhom Iniversisty and affiliated to IFN, et al examining whether the issue of adverse selection justifies a universal mandate for unemployment insurance. They show that workers who purchased more generous unemployment insurance were more than twice as likely to be unemployed in the following year.

Following the passing of the Ikea-founder Ingvar kamprad, Magnus Henrekson, IFN, is quoted by the news agency AFP saying: "Ikea has no leader,” industrial economics researcher Magnus Henrekson warned [...] suggesting the company could lose its compass without its guiding light following Kamprad’s death.

Yahoo! UK & Ireland is publishing a piece about a "study by the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Sweden concluded that Conservative politicians are physically more appealing than their left-wing counterparts". The IFN-reserachers responsible for the study are Niclas Berggren and Henrik Jordahl.

Canberra News writes that Australia is "stuck with the old myth that Finland is an education utopia Australia should emulate".The article refers to a study by Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, affiliated to IFN, et al: "Policies and pedagogy in Finland in the years prior to the PISA 2000 were more traditional and involved annual testing and reporting. Finland's move to an even more progressive model of education preceded its downward slide in PISA performance".

The logistics magazine Delivered quotes Lars Persson, IFN, about intrapreneurship. "According to Persson, intrapreneurship is relatively common in Sweden, partly due to the strong trust culture there. “Employees within firms don’t worry about not being acknowledged for their ideas or that managers will claim them as their own, and this helps foster new ideas”.

In an article in The Mail on Sunday and more media outlets a paper by Niclas Berggren, IFN, et al is quoted: "'Politicians on the right look more beautiful in Europe, the United States and Australia. 'Our explanation is that beautiful people earn more, which makes them less inclined to support redistribution.'"

Yves Zenou at Monash University and affiliated to IFN, was part of the 2017 SMU conference on urban and regional economics, held in Singapore. The Asian Scientist Magazine wrote: A city’s inherent interconnectedness means that people, businesses, buildings and transport networks can have far-reaching, sometimes unexpected impacts on one another.

Bloomberg View writes about rent control: "Over the years, rent control has acquired a special bogeyman status among economists. Assar Lindbeck, a Swedish economist who chaired the Nobel prize committee for many years, once reportedly declared that rent control is 'the best way to destroy a city, other than bombing'.”

In an article in The Daily Caller a paper by Niclas Berggren, IFN et al, was summarized and quoted. Thev study shows that right-leaning politicians are more attractive.

Are you worried about robots making your job obsolete, is the question asked by WNPR in this radio interview. In this program Mårten Blix, IFN, is explaining how automation may affect employment in Sweden and around the world.