IMPACT OF A TERTIARY ELIGIBILITY THRESHOLD ON TERTIARY EDUCATION AND EARNINGS: A DISCONTINUITY APPROACH

This study uses a discontinuity in the Swedish tertiary eligibility requirement to estimate the probability of enrolling in tertiary education, and the payoff thereof. Regression discontinuity results, show that achieving tertiary eligibility in upper-secondary education, increases the probability of enrolling in tertiary education by around 10–15 and 7 percentage points for students who enrolled on an academic and vocational track, respectively. For academic students, this implies 5% higher earnings for men, while for women it increases the probability of having positive incomes by 2%. Thus, academic students at the margin of tertiary education receive a substantial tertiary education payoff. (JEL I21, I26, I28)     

Do Life-Saving Regulations Save Lives?

Life-saving regulations may be counter-productive since they have an indirect mortality effect through the reduction in disposable income. This paper estimates the effect of income on mortality, controlling for the initial health status and a host of personal characteristics. The analysis is based on a random sample of the adult Swedish population of over 40,000 individuals followed up for 10–17 years. The income loss that will induce an expected fatality is estimated to be $6.8 million when the costs are borne equally among all adults, $8.4 million when the costs are borne proportionally to income and $9.8 million when the costs are borne progressively to income.     

Dread and Risk Elimination Premium for the Value of a Statistical Life

The value of a statistical life (VSL) is a widely used measure for the value of mortality risk reduction. As VSL should reflect preferences and attitudes to risk, there are reasons to believe that it varies depending on the type of risk involved. It has been argued that cancer should be considered a “dread disease,” which supports the use of a “cancer premium.” The objective of this study is to investigate the existence of a cancer premium (for pancreatic cancer and multiple myeloma) in relation to road traffic accidents, sudden cardiac arrest, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Data were collected from 500 individuals in the Swedish general population of 50–74‐year olds using a web‐based questionnaire. Preferences were elicited using the contingent valuation method, and a split‐sample design was applied to test scale sensitivity. VSL differs significantly between contexts, being highest for ALS and lowest for road traffic accidents. A premium (92–113%) for cancer was found in relation to road traffic accidents. The premium was higher for cancer with a shorter time from diagnosis to death. A premium was also found for sudden cardiac arrest (73%) and ALS (118%) in relation to road traffic accidents. Eliminating risk was associated with a premium of around 20%. This study provides additional evidence that there exist a dread premium and risk elimination premium. These factors should be considered when searching for an appropriate value for economic evaluation and health technology assessment.     

The ageing of society, health services provision and taxes

This paper investigates the outcome of ageing on taxes and hospitalisation of the elderly using panel data on 23 Swedish county councils 1980–1999. We test two hypotheses; whether a larger share of elderly has no negative effect on bed days per elderly person and no positive effect on tax rates. We reject the first hypothesis but fail to reject the second hypothesis. Further we cannot reject the hypothesis of a unitary elasticity of the share of elderly on bed days per elderly person. These results imply that the old bear the entire cost of adjustment when the population grows older.     

The relationship between happiness, health, and socio-economic factors: results based on Swedish microdata

This paper investigates the relationship between happiness (utility) and a host of socio-economic variables in a random sample of over 5,000 individuals from the Swedish adult population. The results show that happiness increases with income, health and education and decreases with unemployment, urbanisation, being single, and male gender. The relationship between age and happiness is U-shaped, with happiness being lowest in the age-group 45–64 years.