Models for non-cooperative as well as cooperative behavior of families are estimated on data from Norway from 1994 to 1998. The models aim at explaining labor supply behavior of married couples the first five months after the husband becomes eligible for early retirement, while the wife is not...

Does an income tax harm economic efficiency more the more progressive it is? Public economics provides a strong case for a definite ‘yes’. But at least three forces may pull in the other direction. First, low-wage workers may on average have more elastic labour supply schedules than...

In this paper we analyse how fairness considerations, in particular considerations of just income distribution, affect whether or not people believe tax evasion can be justified and their willingness to engage in tax evasion. Using data from the Norwegian “Hidden Labour Market Survey” we...

Why do individuals choose different types of post-secondary education, and what are the labor market consequences of those choices? We show that answering these questions is difficult because individuals choose between several unordered alternatives. Even with a valid instrument for every type...

Many developed countries currently consider a move towards a universal child care program. The challenge in assessing the case for universal child care programs is that the evidence base is scarce. We analyze the staged expansion of subsidized, universally accessible child care in Norway. Our...

Most nations spend a considerable part of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. However, no previous study has addressed the productivity and efficiency of the core area of the armed forces, operational units, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Introducing a model for the production...

Professor Leif Johansen (1930 - 1982) made significant contributions to a large number of fields in economics. A short survey of his contributions is presented. The main focus in the paper is on his growth - production program constituting an important part of his research. The key concepts are...

This paper studies the relationship between retirement and mortality, using a unique administrative data set covering the full population of Norway. We make use of a series of retirement policy changes in Norway, which reduced the retirement age for a group of workers but not for others. By...

Macroeconomic theories take polar views on the importance of choice versus chance. At the micro level, it seems realistic to assume that both dimensions play a role for individual employment outcomes, although it might be difficult to separate these two effects. Nevertheless the choice and...

Norwegian administrative data are used to evaluate the impact of a doubling of the threshold in the retirement earnings test. We find almost no impact on the extensive margin, but a positive effect on the intensive margin. This positive effect is uneven over the earnings distribution, and...