This paper provides an overview of selected literature on the impact of social background on educational opportunity in Sweden. Both a sociological and an economic perspective are applied. It is found that the social stratification in Sweden has decreased compared to other comparable countries...

Over recent years there appears to have been a trend towards an increased divergence between residential neighbourhoods as regards the ethnic composition and socio-economic resources of the residents. At the same time, it is striking that to date very little research in Sweden has attempted to...

There is a well established case for public provision of certain private goods when the government pursues income redistribution under asymmetric information about the skill levels of the agents of the economy. This paper higlights the role of tax funding of day care for children, which is a...

This study analyses children’s entry into childcare and parental assessments of when they ideally would like their children to enter childcare. This is important not least to understand parental attitudes to their own work and the kind of investments in work-life that they are willing to...

In Scandinavia as in many other parts of Europe, violence constitutes an important focus for the public and political debate on crime. Much of what is said in the public debate, and done in the field of criminal policy, stems from a perception that violence is on the increase. This paper...

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We develop a compensating variation (CV) measure of individual welfare change from reforms of social security schemes. Within a random utility framework for modeling the individual retirement decision (e.g. the "option value" or dynamic programing models), this measure takes the individual...

Since the early 2000s regional enlargement (“regionförstoring”) has become an important objective in the Swedish regional policy. Smaller regions are intended to be functionally integrated into larger neighbours through intensified commuting. This strive is facilitated by the fact that the...

The increase in the ratio of the elderly to the working age population as the demographic transition of low fertility and low mortality proceeds, has spurred a discussion concerning the equity of intergenerational transfers. The central question is if and how the state can afford the pensions...

The purpose of this paper is twofold. The primary purpose is to try and explain both the temporal and the spatial variation of poverty rates in terms of unemployment insurance indicators and structural/sociodemographic factors. Secondly, the paper aims to test the 'convergence hypothesis' of the...