News

The Swedish government should invest in small and risky projects only in early phases, explained Roger Svensson, IFN , when he presented a report, “ Government funding in small businesses”, published by  Timbro. He explained that Fourier Transform and InlandsInnovation, government VC funds, should be terminated as these funds invest in final stages, something that the market can bring about without tax money. Instead, Almi’s loans for innovations should be expanded, along with Almi Invest venture capital. As these two are the only funds financing exclusively small and risky projects in early stages, writes Roger Svensson in the report.

"Tax cuts affecting entrepreneurs have partially been aimed in the wrong direction," said Tino Sanandaji , IFN , when he and Magnus Henrekson, IFN, unveiled an ESO study – Entrepreneurship conditions - a new report on the Swedish equity taxation (ESO, the Expert Group for Public Economics). "With high taxes and a heavy regulatory burden more livelihood enterprises have been created [but less entrepreneurial firms with growth potential]" explained Magnus Henrekson during the debate that followed the presentation. In the report, the authors suggest, among other things, that stock option programs should be introduced allowing entrepreneurs and key employees to be rewarded for their risk taking.

For the 16th time The Swedish Network for European Studies in Economics (SNEE) is arranging a four-day research conference in Mölle, Skåne, on May 20 to 23. The initiator and driving force of this endeavor is Professor Lars Oxelheim, IFN and Lund University. The conference that opened with a speech by the Minister for Financial Markets Peter Norman, is by many described as a Nordic mini- Davos meeting. A number of researchers from IFN is presenting studies and/or are commenting on other researchers work.

Roger Svensson, IFN, is the author of a study "Successful support for R & D, innovation and entrepreneurship," which was presented by the think tank Fores on Wednesday. Roger Svensson argues that many forms of support to R & D and innovation is not working well, and that several actions are poorly evaluated. He reasons that the rules for government venture capital funds should be amended and that state funds such as Fourier transform and Inlandsinnovation should be phased out.

Policy makers should recognize that self-employment and innovative entrepreneurship are not synonymous; and that policies which encourage self-employment not necessarily promote entrepreneurship. This is the message in a brand new book SuperEntrepreneurs by Tino and Nima Sanandaji. “This book is also topical in light of the debate about increasing wealth inequality in industrialized countries” writes Professor Magnus Henrekson, IFN, in a foreword: “This report clearly demonstrates that SuperEntrepreneurs as a group has been exceptionally productive from the point of view of the rest of society."

Maryann Feldman, Heninger Distinguished Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina, was the 2013 recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. Now here prize lecture is published in Small Business Economics focusing on her work on the role of entrepreneurial activity in the formation of regional industry clusters.

There are no neutral compensation models. Each offers incentives and thus it is important to determine what you want to achieve, explained researcher Peter Lindgren, author of the report Reimbursement in health care - models, effects and recommendations, at a workshop on Wednesday. He asserted that different models suits different categories of care. The report is included in the IFN and SNS joint project Från välfärdsstat till välfärdssamhälle (From welfare state to a welfare society).

The most downloaded article in the scientific journal Economics Letters is written by Martin Ljunge, IFN. More than 1,500 people have so far downloaded the article published in the first issue of 2014. Ljunge writes about how democracy fosters trust. He has studied trust among second-generation immigrants and correlates it with democracy in the father's country of birth. He notes that democratic institutions have a positive effect on cultural norms, which are important to promote both prosperity and health.

On Tuesday a new research report was presented – Welfare services: licensing, supervision and monitoring, authored by Eva Hagbjer. The report is published by SNS (Centre for Business and Policy Studies) within the framework of the joint project between IFN and SNS From Welfare State to Welfare Society. In the report the rules that ensure quality of welfare services are identified. Eva Lindström commented on the report saying that “it's impressive". Lindström is chairperson of a committee on ownership assessment (ägarprövningutredningen) with the mission to propose requirements that may be imposed on owners in the welfare sector.

During 2014 Richard Öhrvall, Statistics Sweden (SCB) and IFN, will be blogging about the upcoming elections in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. The blog's title is Three hundred and twelve. Why? "During 2014 we have 312 elections: Elections in 290 municipalities, 20 county councils/regions, Swedish parliament and the European parliament," explains Richard Öhrvall who is at the same time writing his thesis in political science at Linköping University. The subject is political participation.
 

Gabriel Sahlgren, Research Director at the Centre for Market Reform of Education, London, and affiliated researcher at IFN will speak before the British Education Committee in parliament on Wednesday March 19. The topic is "Academies and free schools". The purpose of the session "is to explore whether academisation has had a positive impact on student attainment."

The IAEE Best Paper Awards committee has selected a working paper authored by Sara Fogelberg and Ewa Lazarczyk, both IFN, to receive a student paper award at the 37th IAEE International Conference. In addition to this award Sara Fogelberg and Ewa Lazarczyk will compete with three further recipients for the “Best Paper Award” that will be revealed at conference in June 2014. The title of the paper is “Strategic Withholding through Production Failures in the Nordic Electricity Market, Nord Pool”.

The 2014 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research is awarded to Professor Shaker Zahra, Professor of Strategy and Robert E. Buuck Chair of Entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Global Award  is the leading international award in entrepreneurship research with a prize sum of EUR 100 000.

The World Bank on behalf of the Swedish Government has conducted a study of the business environment. On Monday the first part of the report was presented at a seminar in Stockholm. Augusto Lopez - Claros from the World Bank explained that Sweden is doing well, but there is room for improvement. Magnus Henrekson , IFN , commented on the report. He was content that the government now is looking into employee stock options – to facilitate start-ups. At the same time he considers the education system to be the most worrisome sector for continued growth.

Henrik Jordahl, IFN, and Mats Bergman, Södertörn University, unveiled on Thursday a new report on the Swedish market for elderly care. They reckon that "both home care and assisted living facilities [appear] as relatively appropriate to privatize." The two researchers believe that a return to public monopoly is not an answer to today’s obstacles and that the current system works fairly well but needs further improvement.

The Economist blogg "Democracy in America" notes that when President Obama announced that Maria Contreras-Sweet would be his nominee to head the Small Business Administration (SBA) he extolled the virtues of small firms. They are “the lifeblood of our economy”, President Obama said. Observing that there are two kinds of small business owners The Economist refers to a study by the IFN-economists Magnus Henrekson and Tino Sanandaji.

The report Patentboxar som indirekt FOU-stöd (Patent boxes as indirect R & D support) is authored by Roger Svensson, IFN, and was presented by Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum at a seminar on February 6. The author shows that patent boxes are hardly a tax incentive that Sweden should introduce. It turns out that patent boxes do not necessarily create more R & D investment in the host country, and in addition this form of incentives allows for possibly increased international tax evasion.

“Small business activity does not measure entrepreneurship” is the title of an article by Magnus Henrekson and Tino Sanandaji, both IFN, published in the prestigious American scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The two researchers discuss Schumpeterian entrepreneurship, referring to growing and innovative firms: “In empirical research the rate of entrepreneurship is commonly estimated using the self-employment rate or other measures of small business activity. We argue that this empirical strategy gives rise to misleading inferences regarding Schumpeterian entrepreneurship.”
 

Research fellows at IFN regularly participate as speakers and discussants in events organized externally. During the current week IFN-researchers will participate in a number of such events, for example: Magnus Henrekson, who has co-authored a book about taxes for the 21st century, will take part in the presentation of the book. Assar Lindbeck will speak about deregulation of the housing market at a seminar organized by the Bokriskommittén, and Andreas Bergh, will travel to Brussels to discuss EU's migration policy.