Browsing by Author "Wahlberg, Roger"

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Differences in Wage Distributions between Natives, Non-Refugees, and Refugees
(2008-09-15T13:52:27Z) Wahlberg, Roger
This study examines differences in wage distributions between natives, non-refugees, and refugees in Sweden. We find that the wage differentials between natives and non-refugee immigrants decrease across the distribution, while those between natives and refugee immigrants increase. There is evidence of a glass ceiling effect for refugee males in Sweden, and we also find evidence of a glass ceiling effect for native-born women and non-refugee women in the Swedish labor market in comparison with native-born and non-refugee men, respectively. In addition, there is evidence of a double disadvantage effect for refugee women in the Swedish labor market.
Essays on discrimination, welfare and labor supply
(2002) Wahlberg, Roger; Department of Economics
This thesis consists of five papers in applied labor economics. The first two papers are related to wage discrimination between males and females, whereas the next two papers are related to labor supply and welfare participation, while the last paper analysis early retirement in Sweden. `Endogenous Schooling and the Distribution of the Gender Wage Gap' studies how the unexplained wage gap is affected by treating years of education in a traditional wage equation as endogenous. The result shows that the estimated wage differentials are substantial higher using OLS than using IV and panel data. We find that the gender wage gap differs substantially across different values of work experience and that the unexplained gender wage gap has increased over time. `Occupational Gender Composition and Wages in Sweden' analyzes the relationship between wages and occupational gender segregation in Sweden controlling for non-random selection into an occupation. The result shows that the unexplained gender wage gap is largest in female dominated occupations and smallest in male dominated occupations. Females' experience earnings profile is steeper for women in male dominated occupations. Ignoring occupational segregation produces considerable higher estimates of the unexplained part of the gender wage gap. `Household Labor Supply and Welfare Participation in Sweden' studies the joint effects of the tax and benefit systems on household labor supply. The estimates from the structural model yielded small wage and income elasticities. A tax simulation showed that reducing the progressivity in the Swedish tax system may have considerable welfare effects. The effect on working hours from the reform was quite small, while the evaluation of a change in the welfare system showed that the stigma-effect had a substantial impact. `Labor Supply and Welfare Participation of Single Mothers in Sweden' analyzes the effects of changes in income taxes, cost of childcare and social assistance on labor supply for single mothers households. The results show that there is a positive and significant stigma-effect associated with welfare participation. Fixed costs of working is an important factor in a single mothers' decision to enter the labor market. We find a negative covariance between social assistance and labor supply, which implies self-selection into welfare. Welfare effects from the childcare reform are quite similar across all income deciles, even if predicted increases in hours of work are substantial for the poorest single mother households. `Early Retirement in Sweden' studies the determinants of early retirement from the Swedish labor market for both males and females. The result shows that there is heterogeneity in the underlying preference structure and that the probability of a complete early withdrawal from the labor market increases with age. Blue collar workers have lower probability to take part time pension and full early age retirement than workers from other occupational schemes. Finally, we find that economic incitements affect the decision of Swedish workers to leave the labor market. Keywords: Gender Wage Gap, Endogenous Schooling, Panel Data, Occupational Segregation, Labor Supply, Welfare Participation, Unobserved Heterogeneity, Tax Simulation, Early Retirement, Occupational Pension.
From Welfare to Work: Evaluating a Proposed Tax and Benefit Reform Targeted at Single Mothers in Sweden
(2003) Wahlberg, Roger; Pylkkänena, Elina; Flood, Lennart; Department of Economics
In this paper we propose a tax and benefit reform to increase the working hours and to decrease the welfare participation of single mothers in Sweden. We have access to high-quality tax and income data, and use a detailed tax-benefit program to generate precise budget-sets. We formulate and estimate a structural, static model of labor supply and welfare participation. The results suggest that labor supply among single mother households in Sweden is quite elastic, and that there is self-selection into welfare. The proposed reform would generate welfare-gains for virtually everyone in the sample, yet would be revenue neutral
The Gender Wage Gap across the Wage Distribution in the Private and Public Sectors
(2008-09-15T14:09:47Z) Wahlberg, Roger
This study examines gender wage differentials across the wage distribution in the Swedish private and public sectors using quantile regression. Women have lower wages than men across the entire wage distribution. The gender gap increases throughout the distribution and there is a speeding-up effect in the gender gap starting around the 75th percentile, especially in the public sector. Hence, there is evidence of a glass ceiling effect in both the private and public sectors in the Swedish labor market. Using OLS leads to an overestimation of the wage gap at the bottom of the wage distribution, and an underestimation at the top. By focusing only on the mean gender wage gaps, considerable variations in the gender wage gap pass unnoticed.
Household Labor Supply and Welfare Participation in Sweden
(1999) Wahlberg, Roger; Hansen, Jörgen; Flood, Lennart; Department of Economics
Using a sample of Swedish households, we estimate a household labor supply model assuming that preferences for consumption and leisure can be described by a direct translog utility function. The labor supply and welfare participation decisions are treated as a discrete choice problem, and we assume that these choices follow a simple conditional logit rule. In addition, we allow unobserved individual- specific effects to be correlated across alternatives. We assume that these unobserved effects are drawn from a discrete distribution, and the correlation across alternatives is modeled using factor-loading techniques. Classification error in hours is allowed for by using a multiplicative measurement error specification. The estimates from the structural model yield inelastic labor supply among husbands and positive wage elasticity for wives. Further, the cross elasticities are close to zero.
Maximum fee vs child benefit: A welfare analysis of Swedish child-care fee reform
(2007-04-03T12:50:00Z) Brink, Anna; Nordblom, Katarina; Wahlberg, Roger
The effects of a recent Swedish child-care fee reform are compared with those of an alternative reform, increased child benefits. The fee reform implied considerably decreased fees and was intended to increase both labor supply among parents and their economic well-being. We estimate labor supply effects using a discrete choice labor supply model, and simulate behavioral responses to the changes. We find positive, but small, effects on labor supply from reduced fees, while increased child benefits would make single mothers decrease their labor supply. On the other hand, increased child benefits would make income distribution more equal. We make a social welfare comparison and conclude that for plausible values of inequality aversion, the alternative reform would have been preferable to the implemented fee reform.
The Part-Time Penalty for Natives and Immigrants
(2008-09-15T13:12:45Z) Wahlberg, Roger
This study examines the part-time penalty for natives and immigrants in Sweden. We estimate an endogenous switching regression model, and the results indicate that there is evidence of self-selection into part-time and full-time jobs based on unobservable factors. Hence, individuals with full-time (part-time) jobs have unobserved characteristics that allow them to earn more (less) than average workers with full-time (part-time) jobs. We find that the adjusted part-time wage penalties are 20.9 percent for native males, 25.1 percent for immigrant men, 13.8 percent for native women, and 15.4 percent for immigrant women.
Part-Time Penalty in Sweden: Evidence from Quantile Regression
(2008-09-15T13:38:57Z) Wahlberg, Roger
This study analyzes the part-time penalty in Sweden using quantile regression. We find that the estimated part-time wage differential is negative across the whole wage distribution. OLS overestimates the part-time penalty at the bottom of the distribution, and underestimates it at the top. The estimated part-time wage gap rises across the distribution, and there is a sharp acceleration in the increase starting around the 75th percentile, especially for men. Consequently, we find evidence of a glass ceiling in part-time employment for both men and women in the Swedish labor market.
SWEtaxben: A Swedish Tax/benefit Micro Simulation Model and an Evaluation of a Swedish Tax Reform.
(2009-02-24T09:20:48Z) Ericson, Peter; Flood, Lennart; Wahlberg, Roger
The purpose of SWEtaxben is to evaluate the impact of changes in the tax/benefit systems on households as well as the central governmental budget. Relating to the micro simulation literature this model can be labeled a static micro simulation model with behavioral changes. This behavioral change takes two different forms and use two different types of models; first binary models that describe mobility in/out from non-work states such as old age pension, disability, unemployment, long term sickness and second models that describe change in working hours and welfare participation. Thus, apart from the choice to work or not to work, working hours conditional on working as well as welfare participation are treated as endogenous variables. As an application the model is used to evaluate the recent Swedish “make work pay” reform, effective from 2007 and further reinforced in 2008 and 2009. The key characteristic of this reform is an in-work tax credit and decreased state tax rate. Simulations performed by SWEtaxben show increased working hours at both the intensive as well as extensive margin. The tax decrease together with dynamic changes results in a strong increase in household’s incomes but also a reduction in income inequality. However, even considering the increase in hours of work, the reform is far from being self-financed.
Wages and Immigrant Occupational Composition in Sweden
(2010-03-17T12:19:01Z) Hansen, Jorgen; Wahlberg, Roger; Faisal, Sharif
This paper examines the relationship between immigrant occupational composition and wages in Sweden. Effects of changes in proportion of immigrant workers in different occupations on the wage levels of both natives and immigrants are estimated. Our results suggest that increases in immigrant density have only small effects on wages and that the negative relationship between wages and the proportion of immigrant workers in an occupation, observed in data, is almost entirely accounted for by measured and unmeasured worker skills. These results suggest that wage differences across occupations with different densities of immigrants are mainly due to quality sorting and to a lesser extent due to the existence of discrimination.