In the first chapter of this thesis, we investigate the impact of human capital and wage structure on the gender pay in a panel of European countries using a newly available and appropriate database for cross-country comparisons and a comparable methodology for each country. Our first question is : What role do certain individual characteristics and choices of working men and women play in shaping the cross-country differences in the gender pay gap? What is the exact size of the gender pay gap using the “more appropriate” database available for our purpose? Giving that there are mainly only two harmonized data-sets for comparing gender pay gap throughout Europe: the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) and the European Structure of Earning Survey (ESES). Each database having its shortages: the main weakness of the ECHP is the lack of perfect reliability of the data in general and of wages in particular. However the main advantage of this database is the panel-data dimension and the information on both households and individuals. The data of the ESES is, on the contrary, of a very high standard but it only covers the private sector and has a cross-sectional dimension. Furthermore only few countries are currently available : Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Ireland and Italy. We use the European Structure of Earning Survey (ESES) to analyse international differences in gender pay gaps in the private sector based on a sample of five European economies: Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Using different methods, we examine how wage structures, differences in the distribution of measured characteristics and occupational segregation contribute to and explain the pattern of international differences. Furthermore, we take account of the fact that indirect discrimination may influence female occupational distributions. We find these latter factors to have a significant impact on gender wage differentials. However, the magnitude of their effect varies across countries. In the second chapter, we analyse the persistence of the gender pay differentials over time in Europe and better test the productivity hypothesis by taking into account unobserved heterogeneity. Our second question is : What is the evolution of the pay differential between men and women over a period of time in Europe? And what is the impact of unobserved heterogeneity? The researcher here provides evidence on the effects of unobserved individual heterogeneity on estimated gender pay differentials. Using the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), we present a cross-country comparison of the evolution of unadjusted and adjusted gender pay gaps using both cross-section and panel-data estimation techniques. The analysed countries differ greatly with respect to labour market legislation, bargaining practices structure of earnings and female employment rates. On adjusting for unobserved heterogeneity, we find a narrowed male-female pay differential, as well as significantly different rates of return on individual characteristics. In particularly, the adjusted wage differential decreases by 7 per cent in Belgium, 14 per cent in Ireland, between 20-30 per cent Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain and of 41 per cent and 54 per cent in the UK and in Denmark respectively. In the third chapter, we investigate causes of the gender pay gap beyond the gender differences in observed and unobserved productive characteristics or simply the sex. Explanations of the gender pay gap may be the penalty women face for having children. Obviously, the motherhood wage penalty is relevant to larger issues of gender inequality given that most women are mothers and that childrearing remains a women’s affair. Thus, any penalty associated with motherhood but not with fatherhood affects many women and as such contributes to gender inequalities as the gender pay gap. Furthermore, the motherhood wage effect may be different along the wage distribution as women with different earnings may not be equal in recognising opportunities to reconcile their mother’s and earner’s role. This brings us to our third question. Our third question is : What is the wage effect for mothers of young children in the household? And does it vary along the wage distribution of women? This chapter provides more insight into the effect of the presence of young children on women’s wages. We use individual data from the ECHP (1996-2001) and both a generalised linear model (GLM) and quantile regression (QR) techniques to estimate the wage penalty/bonus associated with the presence of children under the age of sixteen for mothers in ten EU Member States. We also correct for potential selection bias using the Heckman (1979) correction term in the GLM (at the mean) and a selectivity correction term in the quantile regressions. To distinguish between mothers according to their age at the time of their first birth, wage estimations are carried out, separately, for mothers who had their first child before the age of 25 (‘young mothers’) and mothers who had their first child after the age of 25 (‘old mothers’). Our results suggest that on average young mothers earn less than non-mothers while old mothers obtain a gross wage bonus in all countries. These wage differentials are mainly due to differences in human capital, occupational segregation and, to a lesser extent, sectoral segregation between mothers and non-mothers. This overall impact of labour market segregation, suggests a “crowding” explanation of the family pay gap – pay differential between mothers and non-mothers. Nevertheless, the fact that we still find significant family pay gaps in some countries after we control for all variables of our model suggests that we cannot reject the “taste-based” explanation of the family gap in these countries. Our analysis of the impact of family policies on the family pay gap across countries has shown that parental leave and childcare policies tend to decrease the pay differential between non-mothers and mothers. Cash and tax benefits, on the contrary, tend to widen this pay differential. Sample selection also affects the level of the mother pay gap at the mean and throughout the wage distribution in most countries. Furthermore, we find that in most countries inter-quantile differences in pay between mothers and non-mothers are mainly due to differences in human-capital. Differences in their occupational and sectoral segregation further shape these wage differentials along the wage distribution in the UK, Germany and Portugal in our sample of young mothers and in Spain in the sample of old mothers. In the fourth chapter, we analyse the combined effect of motherhood and the family status on women’s wage. Our fourth question is : Is there a lone motherhood pay gap in Europe? And does it vary along the wage distribution of mothers? Substantial research has been devoted to the analysis of poverty and income gaps between households of different types. The effects of family status on wages have been studied to a lesser extent. In this chapter, we present a selectivity corrected quantile regression model for the lone motherhood pay gap – the differential in hourly wage between lone mothers and those with partners. We used harmonized data from the European Community Household Panel and present results for a panel of European countries. We found evidence of lone motherhood penalties and bonuses. In our analysis, most countries presented higher wage disparities at the top of the wage distribution rather than at the bottom or at the mean. Our results suggest that cross-country differences in the lone motherhood pay gap are mainly due to differences in observed and unobserved characteristics between partnered mothers and lone mothers, differences in sample selection and presence of young children in the household. We also investigated other explanations for these differences such as the availability and level of childcare arrangements, the provision of gender-balanced leave and the level of child benefits and tax incentives. As expected, we have found significant positive relationship between the pay gap between lone and partnered mothers and the childcare, take-up and cash and tax benefits policies. Therefore improving these family policies would reduce the raw pay gap observed.

Dans ce travail, nous proposons des procédures de test paramétriques et nonparamétriques localement et asymptotiquement optimales au sens de Hajek et Le Cam, pour deux modèles de données de panel. Notre approche est fondée sur la théorie de Le Cam d'une part, pour obtenir les propriétés de normalité asymptotique, bases de la construction des tests paramétriques optimaux, et la théorie de Hajek d'autre part, qui, via un principe d'invariance, permet d'obtenir les procédures nonparamétriques. Dans le premier chapitre, nous considérons un modèle à erreurs composées et nous nous intéressons au problème qui consiste à tester l'absence de l'effet individuel aléatoire. Nous établissons la propriété de normalité locale asymptotique (LAN), ce qui nous permet de construire des procédures paramétriques localement et asymptotiquement optimales (“les plus stringentes”) pour le problème considéré. L'optimalité de ces procédures est liée à la densité-cible f1. Ces propriétés d'optimalité sont hautement paramétriques puisqu'elles requièrent que la densité sous-jacente soit f1. De plus, ces procédures ne seront valides que si la densité-cible f1 et la densité sous-jacent g1 coincïdent. Or, en pratique, une spécification correcte de la densité sous-jacente g1 est non réaliste, et g1 doit être considérée comme un paramètre de nuissance. Pour éliminer cette nuisance, nous adoptons l'argument d'invariance et nous nous restreignons aux procédures fondées sur des statistiques qui sont mesurables par rapport au vecteur des rangs. Les tests que nous obtenons restent valide quelle que soit la densité sous-jacente et sont localement et asymptotiquement les plus stringents. Afin d'avoir des renseignements sur l'efficacité des tests fondés sur les rangs sous différentes lois, nous calculons les efficacités asymptotiques relatives de ces tests par rapport aux tests pseudo-gaussiens, sous des densités g1 quelconques. Enfin, nous proposons quelques simulations pour comparer les performances des procédures proposées. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous considérons un modèle à erreurs composées avec autocorrélation d'ordre 1 et nous montrons que ce modèle jouit de la propriété LAN. A partir de ce résultat, nous construisons des tests optimaux, au sens local et asymptotique, pour trois problèmes de tests importants dans ce contexte : (a) test de l'absence d'effet individuel et d'autocorrélation; (b) test de l'absence d'effet individuel en présence d'une autocorrélation non spécifiée; et (c) test de l'absence d'autocorrélation en présence d'un effet individuel non spécifié. Enfin, nous proposons quelques simulations pour comparer les performances des tests pseudogaussiens et des tests classiques.

The subject of this thesis concerns pricing the use of transport infrastructure. We are empirically investigating the relationship between railway traffic volumes and infrastructure management costs. More specifically, we are interested in estimating the change in infrastructure management costs from marginal variations in traffic volumes, i.e. to estimate the marginal cost of railway infrastructure wear and tear. Both Europe and Sweden have moved towards a marginal cost based transport pricing policy, thus driving the need for more empirical work on rail infrastructure costs to underpin the level of a wear and tear charge. The thesis consists of five papers. In paper I, the data situation for planning railway maintenance and renewal is surveyed internationally. The survey indicates that most infrastructure managers are still in the data gathering phase, rather than ready to use modern computerised planning tools to make sound decisions in the field of maintenance and renewal. In paper II, we investigate the data situation for infrastructure cost analysis in Sweden. A panel data set that consists of cost, traffic and infrastructure information is created. The data covers 1999-2002 and contains almost 190 annual observations. Three main cost categories are identified; infrastructure operation, maintenance and renewal. This data is used for estimations of cost functions in paper II, III and V. Econometric techniques are applied for this purpose, with several different model specifications. In paper II, the method of pooled ordinary least squares (POLS) is applied. In paper III, we turn to unobserved effects models to exploit data heterogeneity. Finally in paper V, a dynamic generalised method of moments estimator is used to explore a potential dynamic cost dependency. The main findings are that the POLS approach, which has been used in similar studies in Europe recently, is rejected in favour of fixed effects estimation for this data. Furthermore, we also reject the idea of regression analysis to capture marginal rail renewal costs. In paper IV, we suggest an analytical expression combined with survival analysis of rail ages to estimate marginal renewal costs. We derive elasticities with respect to output as well as marginal costs for the different cost categories, and find that the current charge for wear and tear in Sweden is well below these new estimates. This opens up for increased, marginal cost based rail infrastructure wear and tear charges, which would reduce the financial burden on Swedish tax-payers. / QC 20100622

The thesis contains the four chapters: Testing parameter constancy in unit root autoregressive models against continuous change; Dickey-Fuller type of tests against nonlinear dynamic models; Inference for unit roots in a panel smooth transition autoregressive model where the time dimension is fixed; Testing unit roots in nonlinear dynamic heterogeneous panels. In Chapter  1 we derive tests for parameter constancy when the data generating process is non-stationary against the hypothesis that the parameters of the model change smoothly over time. To obtain the asymptotic distributions of the tests we generalize many theoretical results, as well as new are introduced, in the area of unit roots . The results are derived under the assumption that the error term is a strong mixing. Small sample properties of the tests are investigated, and in particular, the power performances are satisfactory. In Chapter 2 we introduce several test statistics of testing the null hypotheses of a random walk (with or without drift) against models that accommodate a smooth nonlinear shift in the level, the dynamic structure, and the trend. We derive analytical limiting distributions for all tests. Finite sample properties are examined. The performance of the tests is compared to that of the classical unit root tests by Dickey-Fuller and Phillips and Perron, and is found to be superior in terms of power. In Chapter 3 we derive a unit root test against a Panel Logistic Smooth Transition Autoregressive (PLSTAR). The analysis is concentrated on the case where the time dimension is fixed and the cross section dimension tends to infinity. Under the null hypothesis of a unit root, we show that the LSDV estimator of the autoregressive parameter in the linear component of the model is inconsistent due to the inclusion of fixed effects. The test statistic, adjusted for the inconsistency, has an asymptotic normal distribution whose first two moments are calculated analytically. To complete the analysis, finite sample properties of the test are examined. We highlight scenarios under which the traditional panel unit root tests by Harris and Tzavalis have inferior or reasonable power compared to our test. In Chapter 4 we present a unit root test against a non-linear dynamic heterogeneous panel with each country modelled as an LSTAR model. All parameters are viewed as country specific. We allow for serially correlated residuals over time and heterogeneous variance among countries. The test is derived under three special cases: (i) the number of countries and observations over time are fixed, (ii) observations over time are fixed and the number of countries tend to infinity, and (iii) first letting the number of observations over time tend to infinity and thereafter the number of countries. Small sample properties of the test  show modest size distortions and satisfactory power being superior to the Im, Pesaran and Shin t-type of test. We also show clear improvements in power compared to a univariate unit root test allowing for non-linearities under the alternative hypothesis. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2004

In this thesis, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are used to measure the effects of organized crime on young men’s experience of narcotics. The study relies on panel data for Swedish counties stretching over the period 1995-2005, using results from conscript surveys to determine young men’s experience of narcotics. When applying a fixed effect model, the results show that Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs actually have a negative effect on the experience of narcotics among 18-year-old Swedish men. However, when lagging the time of establishment for the gangs one year, positive estimates are derived for individuals ever used, or been offered to use illicit narcotics. These findings are only significant on a ten percent level, but the results could implicate that it may take some time for the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs to penetrate new markets; finding a profitable way of adapting to the new market conditions. Due to possible problems with endogeneity, it’s difficult to derive any definitive conclusions regarding the true effects of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. It’s possible that the location of a new OMG is partially determined by the use of narcotics, wherefore the results are to be taken with some caution.

The objective of Paper [I] is to analyze potential effects on the Swedish forest sector of a continuing rise in the use of forest resources as fuel in energy generation. An increasing use of forest resources as an energy input may have effects outside the energy sector. In this paper we consider this by estimating a system of demand and supply equations for the four main actors on the Swedish roundwood market. In Paper [II], we estimate a dynamic factor demand model for the Swedish pulp industry. We find weak evidence of adjustment costs for capital. The results suggest that the user cost of capital is a significant determinant of pulp industry investments. We also find that pulp industry investments are insensitive to variations in the price of electricity. Paper [III] proposes a flexible form of adjustment cost function. An empirical illustration shows that the flexible form can detect both convex and non-convex adjustment costs. Furthermore, the flexible form permits testing for the experience effect on adjustment cost. The objective of paper [IV] is to analyze the price formation for wood fuel used by the Swedish district heating sector. According to previous research there is a significant potential for increasing the use of wood fuel in Sweden. The question raised in this paper is why this potential is not realized. According to our results we cannot reject the efficient market hypothesis for all years. The objective of Paper [V] is to test for market power on the market for biofuels. To achieve our objective we make use of the idea of Granger causality. If past values of quantity contribute significantly to the determination of price, quantity is said to Granger cause price, which we will treat as a sign of market power. According to our findings this effect is present.

This thesis consists of three papers that examine Marshallian sources of growthand interdependent location of Swedish firms and households. Paper [I] examines the impact of static and dynamic knowledge externalitiesand their impact on Swedish market operating firms growth pattern between1997 and 2005. The three types of externalities are: (i) Marshall-Arrow-Romer(MAR), (ii) Jacobs, and (iii) Porter. My empirical findings for the 40 industriescan briefly be summarized in the following points: (i) static MAR, Jacobsand/or Porter externalities are present in all but nine industries; (ii) except for five cases all industries are exposed to one or more of the MAR, Jacobs and/orPorter type of dynamic externalities; (iii) contrary to previous studies but inline with theoretical predictions, we do find positive and significant effects forstatic as well as dynamic Jacobs externalities. Paper [II] focuses on the presence of agglomeration economies in the form of labor pooling and educational matching and their impact on economic growth in Swedish manufacturing and service industries from 1997 to 2005. To accomplish this I employ a translog production function that enables me to decompose the total agglomeration elasticities into returns that accrue to: direct agglomeration effects, an indirect effect of agglomeration at given input levels, a cross agglomeration effect of matching on labor pooling and vice versa. Household services is the single industry where both the labor pooling and matching hypothesis is supported by our data. Publishing is the sole instance of betterinput usage due to matching consistent with the theoretical claim. Paper [III] studies the interdependent location choices of households and firms expressed as population and employment in Swedish municipalities. Using a model of the Carlino-Mills type to investigate the impact of various location attributes such as differences in public revenue and spending patterns, accessibility to jobs and potential workforce, quality of the labor pool, concentration ofcommercial, private and public services. The findings suggest that fiscal factors significantly alters the impact of housing and accessibility attributes compared to exiting studies on Swedish data. Another finding, in line with previous studies, indicate that there is a significant degree of inertia in household and firm location choices.

This dissertation examines, both theoretically and empirically, the impact of expenditure decentralization and decision-making in education on education output measured through net enrollment rates, repetition rates, dropout rates, completion rates, and test scores in science at the primary school level. We develop a theoretical model based on a behavioral production function model that investigates the potential direct effects of education decentralization on output, and indirect effects of education decentralization through its impact on family, school and teacher inputs. We develop an unbalanced panel data model of education decentralization by using various econometric estimators on a dataset of fifty-nine countries, developed and developing countries, covering the period 1970-2004 in five-year intervals. The empirical analysis in this dissertation improves upon previous empirical studies of education decentralization by using up-to-date comparative international data over time on measures of education decentralization and various indicators of primary schooling. We find empirical support that expenditure decentralization in education significantly improves repetition rates, dropout rates, completion rates and test scores at the primary school level. We are unable to find a significant effect on primary net enrollment rates. Further, we find that decisions on education planning and personnel management have a greater influence on education output when taken at the intermediate level of government (states and provinces). At the same time we find that allocating decisions on education at the school level can also significantly improve education output. Our empirical results support the hypothesized positive link between education decentralization and education outcomes. Additionally, this study is consistent with the recent trend towards decentralizing education around the world.

Due to widespread decentralization of spending responsibilities, increasing revenue power and borrowing capacity of sub-national governments, sub-national borrowing has become an increasingly important source of sub-national finance. While there are arguments for and against giving sub-national authorities room for raising their own financial resources, appropriate sub-national borrowing regulatory framework can reduce chances of defaults and fiscal crises. This dissertation investigates the effectiveness of sub-national borrowing regulations in maintaining fiscal sustainability. More precisely, it tests the hypothesis that is sub-national borrowing is restricted to financing capital investments (the “golden rule”), and if the sub-national governments are provided with some measure of revenue autonomy, then the sub-national borrowing should not endanger fiscal sustainability. Based on the sub-national government panel data for 57 countries between 1990 and 2008 and applying the system GMM estimator and the survival analysis, this dissertation provides support for this hypothesis. The results suggest that the “golden rule” is effective in maintaining fiscal sustainability at both general and sub-national government level. Sub-national tax autonomy, however, seems to have positive but very small marginal effect on fiscal sustainability. The obtained results also emphasize the risk of the soft budget constraint and the moral hazard. Significant central government financing may give encouraging signs to the sub-national governments to over-borrow and to expect being bailed out by the central government. The results obtained in this dissertation imply following policy recommendations. First, sub-national government borrowing does not have to endanger fiscal sustainability if the borrowing regulation framework is well designed and according to specific country circumstances. Second, reducing fiscal dependence on central government financing reduces the risk of moral hazard and improves the effectiveness of borrowing control in maintaining fiscal balance at the sustainable level.

There are several arguments why the economic analysis of gambling seems to be very interesting. Gambling is a very important economic industry from which either local or national governments obtain resources due to some sort of fiscal imposition on gambling participation. On the other hand, the consumption of gambling seems to violate the premises of economic theory (risk aversion, maximizing and rational conduct). The empirical literature on this field has tried to answer several questions that might be summarized as follows: Who does gamble? Why do people gamble? And, how do game features, such as the rules or the prize structure, affect the demand for gambling? This thesis tries to shed more light on the questions identified above, focusing on the particular case of state-operated lotteries and football pools in Spain. Specifically, we are interested in examining what aspects drive gamblers' participation in Spanish lottery markets and spending on lotteries, focusing on network externalities in consumer spending on closely related lottery goods. Next, we study the demand for a particular game, paying attention to the factors that explain why individuals bet, especially, those that refer to the design of the game and the structure of prizes. Finally, the analysis of the main economic determinants of demand for gambling is extended to football pools as a particular form of sports gambling. In addition to these empirical exercises, this study contributes to the economics of gambling by briefly reviewing the theoretical work and empirical highlights from the previous analysis of the demand for lottery.