News

French high school students have not, by law, been able to use their cell phones at school for a year. And, since 2007, Swedish teachers, according to the Education Act, have the right to "take care of objects that are used in a way that is disturbing in class." Under these circumstances, what would a total ban on mobile phones in our schools bring about, asked Björn Tyrefors and Dany Kessel, IFN, and Hulda Lif Hardardottir, Stockholm University, in a new study. They found that a statutory mobile ban in Swedish schools is a cheap but not generally effective reform.

A central part of the Swedish summer is the Midsummer celebration. IFN wishes all visitors to this site a happy midsummer and a pleasant summer.

On Wednesday, Petra Persson, Stanford University and affiliate to IFN, presented research showing that the likelihood is greater that people with access to informal health expertise, such as a doctor or a nurse in the family, will be 80 or older. At the seminar at SNS, Mårten Palme, Stockholm University, commented on the research based on his own studies on the connection between education and health. The main theme of the seminar was "how inequalities in health and lifespan can be reduced".

On Tuesday, the think tank Fores presented the report Climate Policies in the Nordic – Nordic Economic Policy Review 2019 (Nordic Council of Ministers), with Lars Calmfors, IFN, and John Hassler, Stockholm University, as editors. Together with a number of researchers, they have studied how the Nordic countries can best contribute to international climate policy. Calmfors and Hassler propose, among other things, that the Nordic countries should focus on "technology that can get widespread use globally and where the Nordic countries have special expertise. More Nordic cooperation in developing new technology of this type is likely to enhance the impact".

On Thursday, the new book Kollektivavtal och lönenormering i en ny tid (Dialogos 2019) was presented at a seminar in Stockholm. It is authored by Lars Calmfors, Simon Ek, Ann-Sofie Kolm, and Per Skedinger. They have studied and analyzed how the Swedish collective bargaining model can be reformed so that greater consideration is given to the lack of qualified labor, such as nurses, and the economy at large. During the seminar and occasionally intense debate, also participated Stefan Koskinen, Almega (Employers’ Organisation for the Swedish Service Sector), Marie Nilsson, Union IF Metall, and Annelie Söderberg, Vårdförbundet (Swedish Association of Health Professionals). Journalist Anna Danielsson Öberg moderated the seminar.

A two-day conference on the industrial organization was held on 10-11 June in Stockholm by IFN, Stockholm School of Economics and Södertörn University. About 45 participants came to the workshop, which was the eleventh organized by Norio (Nordic Workshop on Industrial Organization), which is held every two years. The overall purpose of these workshops is to stimulate collaboration and knowledge exchange among Nordic researchers in the field.

Lars Calmfors, IFN, is the main author of a new report written for the Nordic Council of Ministers: Integrating immigrants into the Nordic Labour Markets: An Overall Perspective. The report was presented on Wednesday in Oslo. Per Skedinger, IFN, and Simon Ek, Uppsala University and affiliate to IFN, have written a chapter titled "Wage Policy”. The report shows that subsidized private employment is of most advantage, even for immigrants to, later on, get non-subsidized jobs, Lars Calmfors explained in Oslo. He stated that this kind of support is most common in Sweden of the Nordi9c states. He advised other countries to increase the use of this type of intervention.

On Tuesday, the book Glädjeparadoxen – historien om skolans uppgång, fall och möjliga upprättelse (The Happiness Paradox - the story of the school's rise, fall, and possible recovery) (Dialogos Förlag 2019) was presented at a seminar in Stockholm. One of the book's two authors, Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, London School of Economics and IFN, explained that we must take the conflict between joy and effective learning seriously. Magnus Henrekson, IFN, who initiated and closed the seminar, said that the education system we have today is a perfect recipe for increasing the inequality in society and if increased polarization is what we want, we can just continue to build on the current school system.

On Thursday, Boyan Jovanovic, this year's winner of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research, received his award at a ceremony at the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). The award was handed over by the Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation, Ibrahim Baylan, together with Jan-Olof Jacke, Director General of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. Read more about this year's winner on the website of the prize.

“What is meant by high-quality education?” That was the theme of a conference organized by the Swedish Association of Independent Schools. Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, London School of Economics and IFN, discussed the importance of understanding goal incongruence among the many quality-based goals in the education system. For example to increase student influence. Sahlgren presented research showing that student influence is positively correlated with perceived happiness among students. On the other hand, student influence is negatively correlated with economic growth on a national level.

The Government has appointed Gudmund Toijer to a one person committee to propose a modernization of the labor law. The appointment and design of the directives are based on the January agreement between the Social Democrats, the Center Party, the Liberals, and the Green Party. Per Skedinger, IFN, has been appointed an expert in the inquiry. His research has, among other things, focused on the employment protection legislation (Las) and its seniority rules. Other experts are Oscar Norström Skans, Uppsala University, and Anna Breman, chief economist Swedbank.

IFN has on several occasions invited representatives of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise member organizations to present the institute's broad field of research. "IFN's research and its importance in the public debate" (Magnus Henrekson), "Privatization of welfare services" (Henrik Jordahl) and "Is the Swedish business sector more entrepreneurial than the American?" (Lars Persson), were subjects for the presentations that the participants to listened to. Mårten Blix, IFN, also told about a book that he writes with Henrik Jordahl about the Swedish welfare sector.

Happy Easter to all the visitors to this website.

At the end of March, the industry-, labor market- and entrepreneurship-group (FAME) at IFN organized an internal workshop for IFN researchers and affiliates. During the workshop, research conducted with IFN's company data and Swedish registry data was presented and discussed. The purpose of the meeting was to review informally, in a small group and to discuss research ideas and ongoing research that are still at a very early stage, and thereby utilize the broad knowledge available at the institute and find possible new synergies. A total of 16 researchers presented and received feedback on their research and their research ideas. Discussing

On Friday, Özge Öner, IFN, presented the results of three years of research on the importance of retail for urban and rural areas. The title of the research project is "Shopping for change: The role of retail for urban and rural development in Sweden". The research has been financed by the Handelsrådet (Trade Council). "The industry's size corresponds to almost 20 percent of the total number of jobs and almost 11 percent of GDP", writes Özge Öner in a summary of the project. But despite this, retailing in most Swedish municipalities is decreasing.
 

"As a first big step to saving cohesion within the EU, national politicians must learn to give recognition to the EU for success and not, as the moment itself takes the credit and then blame all the hard-earned decisions on the EU," summarizes the debate on the EU book, Oxelheim summarizes the debate and the return of the nation-state (the 22nd year of Europaperspektiv) on Wednesday was discussed in Brussels. This took place at the Swedish Permanent Representation to the EU with the participation of, among others, trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström.

Research by Petra Persson, Stanford University and IFN, Maria Polyakova and Yiqun Chen, also active at Stanford, shows that people with access to informal health expertise through a family member who works as a doctor or nurse are 10 percent more likely to become 80 years or older. They are also significantly less likely to have chronic lifestyle-related diseases such as heart attacks, heart failure, and diabetes. The study has been published by the National Bureau of Economic Research and also as a working paper at IFN.

Over the years many guests have visited IFN and spent some time at the Institute. This is a way to exchange ideas with researchers working in other countries and to collaborate on projects. Ludek Kouba is a visitor of IFN during spring and summer of 2019. He is an associate professor at the Department of Economics at Mendel University in Brno in the Czech Republic. Also, Kouba has a part-time engagement at the University of Economics in Prague where he gives lectures on institutional economics.

“What I believe is missing in Italy is not the reforms, but believing in the reforms”, said Guiseppe Bertola, University of Turin, when presenting this years' EEAG Report on a seminar in Stockholm. He added that "the solution is not to do the reforms that Germany is doing, it’s not to become Danish and it’s not to do what you did when the country did well. The solution is to understand the surrounding”. Karolina Ekholm, professor in international economics, and  Mauro Gozzo, chairman of the Economic Council of Swedish Industry, commented on the report. "Sweden is seen as one of the good guys, and I do not like this narrative since it divides up Europe into south and north,” explained Ekholm. Mauro Gozzo agreed.

The 2019 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research goes to Boyan Jovanovic, Professor of Economics, New York University. Jovanovic is awarded for his pioneering research on the competitive dynamics between incumbent firms and new ventures, entrepreneurial learning and selection processes. The Global Award is the foremost international award in entrepreneurship research with a prize sum of € 100,000.