Only when the servant or wife is abruptly removed from the household and the well-oiled wheels of domestic machinery grind to a halt does the superior realize just how important such services really are. This quote shows how important domestic services are, it also points out who executes it and that society and people, at least the superior, tend to take it for granted. The quote also gives a hint to the aim of this study which is to analyze the arguments behind the policy proposal presented in Promemorian Skattelättnader för hushållstjänster from 2006. The study focuses on the social problems behind the policy proposal and if there were problems left unproblematized. Another aim is to study if assumptions on gender and class can be seen in the policy proposal. Two methods have been used; primarily argumentation, but to some extent (theoretically) also Carol Lee Bacchi’s approach ”what’s the problem represented to be?”. Bacchi’s approach is useful because the presented solutions to a problem depend on the representation of problems and how they are formulated. The results show, among other things, that the interpretation of women’s role in household and society, which also contain a representation of problems, line up the solutions of the problems. They also show that gender equality, as well as gender and class, has been left unproblematized in the policy proposal.

Under covid-19-pandemin sänkte den svenska regeringen arbetsgivaravgiften för arbetstagare i åldrarna19–23 år. Denna uppsats studerar effekten av denna sänkning på sysselsättning under åren 2020–2022,utifrån registerdata från svenska myndigheter. Genom två difference-in-difference-modeller, jämför jagdels sysselsättningsgraden för 20–24-åringar mot sysselsättningsgraden hos 25–29-åringar, delssysselsättningen i branscher med hög andel anställda i åldrarna 20–24 år mot sysselsättningen ibranscher med en medelhög andel anställda i åldrarna 20–24 år. Jag finner ett positiv samband mellanreformen och sysselsättning i behandlingsgruppen under reformperioden. Resultaten indikerar att sänktaarbetsgivaravgifter ökade sysselsättningsgraden för 20–24-åringar med 1,0–1,7 procentenheter, ochökade sysselsättningen i branscher med en hög andel anställda i åldrarna 20–24 år med 2,3 procent. Atteffekten är större med branschmodellen stärker också tidigare slutsatser att subventioner riktade motspecifika grupper på arbetsmarknaden påverkar den gynnade gruppen heterogent, och inte likartat påhela arbetsmarknaden. Jag finner även i strid med tidigare forskning, en tydlig positiv effekt försysselsättningen hos utrikesfödda. / During the Covid-19 pandemic the Swedish government lowered payroll taxes for employees aged 19to 23 years old. This thesis studies the effect of these lowered payroll taxes on employment during theyears 2020–2022, using register data from Swedish tax collecting and social service agencies. Usingtwo difference-in-difference models, I firstly compare the employment rate for 20–24-year-olds to theemployment rate for 25–29-years-olds, and secondly compare employment in industries with a highshare of 20–24 years old employees to industries with a medium share of 20–24 years old employees. Ifind a small, positive correlation between the reform and employment in the targeted groups during thereform period. These results indicate that lowered payroll taxes increased the employment rate for 20–24-year-olds by 1.0–1.7 percentage points, and increased employment in industries with a large shareof 20–24-year-old workers by 2.3 percent. The fact the effect is larger using the industry analysissupports previous conclusions that subsidies targeted at specific groups on the labour market affectsthe favoured group heterogeneously, and not equally across the labour market. I also find, contrary toprevious research, a clear effect on employment for foreign born workers.

This thesis consists of four papers summarized as follows. Do Payroll Tax Cuts Raise Youth Employment? We study whether payroll tax reductions are an effective means to raise youth employment. In 2007, the Swedish employer-paid payroll tax was cut on a large scale for young workers, substantially reducing labor costs for this group. Using the variation in payroll taxes across cohorts, we estimate a significant, but small, impact both on employment and on wages. Effects of Taxes on Youth Self-Employment and Income. I examine the link between taxes and youth self-employment. I make use of a Swedish reform that made the payroll tax and the self-employment tax vary by age. The results suggest that youth self-employment is insensitive to tax reductions, both in the short run and in the somewhat longer run. For those defined as self-employed, I find positive effects on income from self-employment, and negative effects on income from wage employment. Can Indifference Make the World Greener? We conducted a natural field experiment at a large university in Sweden to evaluate the effects of two resource conservation programs. The first intervention consisted of a campaign that actively tried to convince people to cut back on printing in general, and to use double-sided printing whenever possible. The second intervention exploited people's tendency to stick with pre-set alternatives. At random points in time we changed the printers’ default settings, from single-sided to double-sided printing. Whereas the moral appeal had no impact, the default change cut paper use by 15 percent. The Origins of Behavioral Contagion: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Facebook. We explore the micro-level foundations of behavioral contagion by running a natural field experiment on the networking site Facebook. Members of Facebook express positive support to content on the website by clicking a Like button. We show that users are more prone to support content if someone else has done so before.

Syftet med denna undersökning har varit att studera vad RUT-avdragets införande 2007 har inneburit för anställda inom befintliga svenska aktiebolag inom RUT-branschen. RUTavdraget är en skattesubvention som innebär att privatpersoner kan få hushållsnära tjänster utförda till ett reducerat pris. Undersökningen har gjorts genom att empiriskt studera hur genomsnittlig lönesumma per anställd och genomsnittligt antal anställda i befintliga svenska aktiebolag har förändrats inom RUT-branschen mellan åren 2006 och 2008, allt annat lika. För att studera detta användes en difference-in-difference-metod med fixa effekter och robusta standardfel. Datamaterialet som användes till undersökningen var bokföringsdata från aktiebolag som samlats in av PAR. I undersökningen ingick 2 506 företag inom RUTbranschen och totalt 74 798 observationer. Resultatet visar att i genomsnitt har det inom de befintliga aktiebolagen inom branschen skapats 1,4 nya jobb per företag och årslönerna för de anställda i dessa företag har i genomsnitt ökat med 10 931 kronor per anställd. Totalt innebär det att 3 065 nya jobb har skapats i dessa befintliga aktiebolag, vilket kan sättas i relation till tidigare undersökningar som visat att den totala ökningen av antal anställda i genomsnitt varit ca 5 700 personer. Tidigare har inte löneeffekter till följd av RUT-avdraget studerats, vilket innebär att detta arbete bidrar med ny forskning inom ett område som inte studerats tidigare. / The purpose of this thesis has been to study what the introduction of the RUT deduction 2007 has meant for employees in existing Swedish limited companies in the RUT industry. The RUT deduction is a tax subsidy that allows the public to buy household services at a reduced price. The study has been conducted by empirically studying how average wages per employee and average number of employees in existing Swedish limited companies have changed within the RUT industry between 2006 and 2008, ceteris paribus. For this, a Difference-in-Difference method was used with fixed effects and robust standard errors. The data used for the study was accounting data from companies, collected by PAR. The dataset consisted of 2,506 companies in the RUT industry and a total of 74,798 observations. The result shows that on average, within the existing companies in the industry, 1.4 new jobs have been created per company and the annual salary for employees in these companies has increased by an average of SEK 10,931 per employee. In total, 3,065 new jobs have been created in these existing limited companies, which can be compared with previous studies where the average number of employees on average was approximately 5,700. Previously, wage effects resulting from the RUT deduction have not been studied, which means that this work contributes to new research in a previously unexplored area.