The effects of in-store music on consumer behavior have attracted much attention in the marketing literature, but surprisingly few studies have investigated in-store music in relation to employees. Conducting a large-scale field experiment in eight Filippa K fashion stores in Stockholm, Sweden,...

In 2007, the Swedish government tried to prevent firms from underreporting their wage payments by implementing a reform that required restaurants and hairdressers to have staff registers. Employers were required to provide detailed information on when their employees were working, and the...

This paper explores how distraction from a consumer's surroundings may influence consumption. In a natural field experiment involving 16 fastfood restaurants over five months, we randomly varied the degree of familiarity of the background music. We find that playing familiar music reduces...

Theories of intertemporal price discrimination imply that prices must be chosen using mixed strategies, with retailers changing their prices randomly over time. Otherwise, consumers will learn which retailer has the lowest price, and eventually, all customers will patronize the lowest price...

We use the entry of 17 external shopping malls in Sweden to investigate how they have affected the performance of incumbent firms located in the city centres of small cities. We find that entry by external shopping malls decreased labour productivity for incumbent firms in city centres by...

In the race to the South Pole, Roald Amundsen's expedition covered an equal distance each day, irrespective of weather conditions, while Scott's pace was erratic. Amundsen won the race and returned without loss of life, while Scott and his men died. We investigate how firms' sales growth deviate...

Price comparison websites, where consumers can compare prices at a search cost that is close to zero, have become increasingly common around the world. Using daily information on prices, click-throughs, and the number of retailers for a sample of consumer electronics and durable goods over a...

Most previous studies on the employment effects of government R&D grants targeting SMEs are characterized by data-, measurement-, and selection problems, making it difficult to construct a relevant control group of firms that did not receive a R&D grant. We investigate the effects on employment...

Business improvement districts (BIDs) have emerged as possible solutions for the revitalization of urban areas characterized by economic decline. Using a difference-in differences model, we investigate the effects of a voluntary Swedish BID programme in five cities on firm performance, urban...

Many countries have undertaken central-bank independence reforms, but the years of implementation differ. What explains such differences in timing? This is of interest more broadly, as it sheds light on factors that matter for the speed at which economic reforms come about. We study a rich set...