Recent publications
This page contains recent publications by faculty, researchers and PhD students at the Department of Economics.
Weather shocks, infant mortality, and adaptation: Experimental evidence from Uganda
by Martina Björkman Nyqvist
Climate change is making extreme weather more dangerous, especially in low-income countries. When rains fail during the growing season, infant deaths go up. This study shows that access to basic community healthcare can cut that risk by nearly half. As the climate gets more unpredictable, stronger healthcare systems could help protect the most vulnerable.
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Solid outcomes in finite games
by Jörgen W. Weibull, Journal of Economic Theory
A new solution concept for finite games, called solid outcomes, is introduced. It is robust across game representations, consistent with backward induction, and unaffected by dominated strategies. Solid outcome sets exist in all finite games, and isolated solid outcomes exist in generic extensive-form games with perfect recall. The solution concept has strong selection power, even in generic normal-form games and performs well in classical examples in game theory. Algorithms efficiently identify minimal game blocks, the subsets of strategy profiles that support these outcomes.
Reply to Krefeld-Schwalb et al.: Measuring population heterogeneity requires upholding good scientific practice
by Anna Dreber and Magnus Johannesson, PNAS
We appreciate KHJ's interest in our study and agree with their theoretical points, particularly regarding the limited heterogeneity in WEIRD samples. However, we question KHJ's empirical claims on population heterogeneity, noting that KSJ's paradigms were designed to enhance heterogeneity. Revisiting KSJ's data shows lower heterogeneity estimates than KHJ suggests, especially after excluding inattentive participants. Our findings highlight that online data collection may inflate heterogeneity, underscoring the need for further research.
Personality Traits and Cognitive Ability in Political Selection
by Jaakko Meriläinen, Journal of the European Economic Association
Elected politicians in Finland score higher on cognitive and non-cognitive tests than the general population. Local politicians perform on par with high-skill workers, while national politicians score even higher. This suggests voters and parties select a more competent, motivated, and honest political class.
Group conflict, group composition, and policy convergence
by Karl Wärneryd, Economics Letters
We consider groups that compete to set policy, and show that there may be an incentive to change group composition with respect to policy preferences in such a fashion that equilibrium policies ultimately converge across groups.
Returns to labour mobility
by Lars Ljungqvist
Economic Journal
Returns to labor mobility play a crucial role in macro-labor models but are often overlooked. Using perspectives from (i) labor economics and (ii) industrial organization, we find that the focus on firm size dynamics in (ii) yields robust, large returns. In contrast, focusing on per-worker productivity processes in (i) might give rise to fragilities where parameter perturbations that generate similar targeted statistics can imply very different returns.
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Associations between common genetic variants and income provide insights about the socio-economic health gradient
by Magnus Johannesson
Nature Human Behaviour
A genome-wide study found 162 genetic loci linked to income, all with small effects. A polygenic index explained 1–5% of income variance, mostly through indirect effects. The genetic factor correlated with education and was tied to better mental health but worse physical health. These findings highlight the complex genetic influences on income and health.
Labor reallocation effects of furlough schemes: Evidence from two recessions in Spain
by Álvaro Jañez Garcia
European Economic Review
Furlough schemes help stabilize unemployment during recessions by subsidizing temporarily unproductive jobs. However, these schemes crowd out firms' own labor hoarding and increase output and employment volatility. Moreover, these schemes also slow down worker reallocation away from declining to less affected sectors during recessions.
Means-tested programs and interstate migration in the United States
Means-tested programs, in particular Medicaid and Public Housing, significantly reduce the mobility rates of low-income households, especially for the poorest. Half of this negative effect comes from the risk of losing benefits when moving despite being eligible for them. Ensuring the portability of transfers across states improves welfare, as the reform facilitates households to migrate to states offering higher incomes or better amenities.