Responsibility and redistribution: The case of first best taxation

It is not straightforward to define the ethics of responsibility in cases where the consequences of changes in factors within our control are partly determined by factors beyond our control. In this paper, we suggest that one plausible view is to keep us responsible for the parts of the consequences that are independent of the factors beyond our control. Within the framework of a first best taxation problem, we present and characterise a redistributive mechanism that both satisfies this interpretation of the ethics of responsibility and the ethics of compensation within a broad class of economic environments. However, on a general basis, even this weaker version of the ethics of responsibility is not compatible with the ethics of compensation, and we report an impossibility result that clarifies the source of this conflict.Thanks to Alexander Cappelen, Walter Bossert, Marc Fleurbaey, Aanund Hylland, Peter Vallentyne, an associate editor and two anonymous referees for valuable comments. The author of course remains responsible for all remaining shortcomings.     

The interaction of migration,income, and employment in Sweden

A common approach in migration studies is to explain interregional migration by single-equation models. Such models are likely to suffer from simultaneous-equation bias when used in studies attempting to analyze migration over a long period of time. In this study, a simultaneous-equation approach is applied, which takes account of the interdependence between migration and income and employment changes. The four-equation model is estimated for 70 labor market areas in Sweden.     

Vacancy Referrals,Job Search,and the Duration of Unemployment: A Randomized Experiment

One goal of the Public Employment Service is to facilitate matching between unemployed job‐seekers and job vacancies; another goal is to monitor job search so as to bring search efforts among the unemployed in line with search requirements. The referral of job‐seekers to vacancies is one instrument used for these purposes. We report results from a randomized Swedish experiment where the outcome of referrals is examined. To what extent do unemployed individuals actually apply for the jobs they are referred to? Does information to job‐seekers about increased monitoring affect the probability of applying and the probability of leaving unemployment? The experiment indicates that a relatively large fraction (one‐third) of the referrals do not result in job applications. Information about intensified monitoring causes an increase in the probability of job application, especially among young people. However, we find no significant impact on the duration of unemployment.     

Do Benefit Hikes Damage Job Finding? Evidence from Swedish Unemployment Insurance Reforms

Abstract. In 2001 and 2002, Sweden introduced several unemployment insurance reforms. A major innovation in the first reform was the introduction of a two‐tiered benefit structure for some unemployed individuals. This system involved supplementary compensation during the first 20 weeks of unemployment. The 2002 reform retained the two‐tiered benefit structure but involved also substantial benefit hikes for spells exceeding 20 weeks. This paper examines how these reforms affected transitions from unemployment to employment. We take advantage of the fact that the reforms had quasi‐experimental features where the ‘treatments’ differed considerably among unemployed individuals. We find that the reforms had strikingly different effects on job finding among men and women. The two reforms in conjunction are estimated to have increased the expected duration of unemployment among men but to have decreased the duration of unemployment among women. The overall effect on the duration of unemployment is not statistically different from zero. However, the reforms reduced job finding among men who remained unemployed for more than 20 weeks.     

Where does time spent on the Internet come from? Tracing the influence of information and communications technology use on daily activities

We explore from a time-use perspective how private use of computers and the Internet [information and communications technologies (ICTs)] is transforming everyday life. Data from the Swedish 2010–2011 Time-Use Survey reflect a situation in which Internet use has spread widely and become routine for many. Using covariate analysis, we analyse differences in general time use between four groups of ICT users ranging from non-users to heavy users. The theoretical departure point is a nuanced discussion of the time-displacement concept. Results indicate that private time spent using ICTs is associated primarily with individuals’ available free time, that is, elastic relative to time for paid work (i.e. contracted time). Heavy ICT users spend more time on activities carried out alone, are more home centred, and less mobile. Heavy use is associated with somewhat less committed time spent, for example, on maintenance work or taking care of children. Regarding personal time, time for meals is negatively related to heavy use, while night-time sleep is unaffected. Concerning free time, heavy use takes time from sports and outdoor recreation, but has no effect on offline media use, entertainment and cultural activities, or reading. Heavy use does not affect time spent on social activities, for example, for social interaction with family and friends or time spent on voluntary associations. Observed differences become significant at certain thresholds of ICT-related time use, involving heavy users who spend one hour or more on computers and the Internet every day.     

Bayesian comparison of private and common values in structural second-price auctions

Private and common values (CVs) are the two main competing valuation models in auction theory and empirical work. In the framework of second-price auctions, we compare the empirical performance of the independent private value (IPV) model to the CV model on a number of different dimensions, both on real data from eBay coin auctions and on simulated data. Both models fit the eBay data well with a slight edge for the CV model. However, the differences between the fit of the models seem to depend to some extent on the complexity of the models. According to log predictive score the IPV model predicts auction prices slightly better in most auctions, while the more robust CV model is much better at predicting auction prices in more unusual auctions. In terms of posterior odds, the CV model is clearly more supported by the eBay data.     

Distributive interdependencies in liberal egalitarianism

Liberal egalitarian theories of justice share the egalitarian ideal that inequalities due to factors beyond individual control should be eliminated. This justifies that individuals sometimes receive more (or less) than their marginal productivity, which in turn implies that a change in one individual’s effort sometimes will affect the post-tax income of others. What restrictions should we place on such distributive interdependencies? The article provides characterizations of three main classes of redistribution mechanisms on the basis of how this question is answered.     

Poverty measurement: the critical comparison value

The Foster–Greer–Thorbecke (FGT) family of poverty-measures is commonly used when comparing income distributions with respect to poverty. Within this framework, the poverty ranking will be sensitive to the choice of poverty aversion parameter (defining a particular FGT poverty-measure). If we content ourselves with applying a few specific parameter values, then we may demand too little in order to claim robustness in our poverty comparisons. On the other hand, we may demand too much if we only work with FGT poverty-measure quasi orderings established by considering every possible parameter value. An alternative approach may be to report the number of parameter values representing possible reversal points in our poverty ranking—what we call critical comparison values—and leave the final evaluative step to the relevant decision-makers. By applying a generalized version of Descartes’ Rule of Signs, we show that the number of critical comparison values depends on the number of times the cumulative distribution functions intersect.

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The importance of moral reflection and self-reported data in a dictator game with production

This article studies how individual behavior is affected by moral reflection in a dictator game with production. We make individuals reflect on fairness, in a structured way, before they play the dictator game. Our results suggest that moral reflection not only increases the weight people attach to fairness in distributive choices, but also has a strong effect on what people consider fair. Furthermore, we study the informational value of self-reported data. We find that self-reported data have substantial informational value, but do not add explanatory power to a random utility model estimated on purely behavioral data. Finally, we study whether there is a self-serving bias in the participants’ fairness perceptions, but do not find much evidence of this phenomenon in the data.