We find that the Norwegian R&D tax credit scheme introduced in 2002 mainly works as intended. The scheme is cost-effective and it is used by a large number of firms. It stimulates these firms to invest more in R&D, and, in particular, the effect is positive for small firms with little R&D...

There is massive cross-sectional evidence that children of more educated parents outperform their schoolmates on tests, grade repetition and in educational attainment. However, evidence for causal interpretation of this association is weak. Within a rich census level data set for Norway, we...

Survival rates are widely used to compare quality of health care. In this paper we introduce post-illness employment as a supplemental indicator of successful treatment of serious diseases. Utilizing rich register based data on cancer patients we document substantial differences across Norwegian...

We measure the effective assistance to 17 Norwegian private industries in 1989 and 1991 caused by government budgetary subsidies, indirect commodity taxes, import protection through nominal tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and electricity market distortions. The assistance effects are measured...

This paper investigates whether economic returns to education in Norway differ across cohorts. Differences in returns to education may arise from selection effects - the large increase in educational attainment in postwar years may have changed selection into education. They may also result from...

It is an established fact that firms, even within narrowly defined industries, differ with respect to productivity. In this paper we analyse how observed heterogeneity in productivity is affected by endogenous producer behaviour, and to what extent shifts in firm specific productivity parameters...

Employers cannot always displace workers at their own discretion. In many countries, Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) includes restrictions on laying off workers. This paper studies whether employers use downsizing events, where the rules for dismissal differ from the rules that apply for...

Whether increasing resource use in schools has a positive effect on pupil performance has occupied governments, parents and researchers for decades. A main challenge when trying to answer this question is to separate the effects of school resources from the effects of pupils’ family...

Older workers typically possess older vintages of skills than younger workers, and they may suffer more from technological change. Experienced workers may nevertheless have accumulated human capital making them suitable for adopting new technologies. On the other hand, to adjust to new...

This paper studies how productivity shifts at the level of the firm are transmitted to aggregate industry productivity in a model of heterogeneous firms. We analyse both uniform productivity shifts, and catching up by reducing the productivity differentials between firms. The two kinds of shifts...