The economics of risk sharing in discrete time with translation invariant recursive utility

We consider optimal risk sharing in a dynamic setting, where agents have preferences represented by translation invariant recursive utility. This model has some appealing features, both compared to the scale invariant one and to the standard model with expected utility. First, the model allows for a treatment of heterogeneous preferences. This leads to extensions in more realistic directions of the standard, one-period risk sharing model. Second, the new endogenous variable entering the state price deflator is a traded security, an annuity, while in the scale invariant model the corresponding variable is the agent’s wealth. The model invites for a closer look at the mutuality principle in syndicates and optimal risk sharing in society. We also embed a stock market in our setting and derive a consumption based capital asset pricing model

Pareto Optimal Insurance Policies: Kinks with or without frictions

We analyze optimal risk sharing between a customer and an in surer, and present alternative explanations for the prevalence of kinks in Pareto optimal contracts, like deductibles and upper bounds as in XL-contracts. Linear indemnity functions have primarily been considered in the literature. We focus on nonlinear contracts, which can be explained on the basic of different preferences held by the parties involved. In this setting we derive Pareto optimal contracts with ”near” deductibles and ”near’ caps, which we illustrate by examples. Lastly we consider a model based on non-verifiability where the insurer is risk-neutral. We change to a setting where both the cedent and the reinsurer are strictly risk averse. This rationalizes both an endogenous upper cap and a deductible, retaining compensations for risk bearing

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Corporations: The Case of Global Paternity Leave

This PhD thesis provides insights into the communication and perception of a new global paternity leave policy, emphasising the corporate discourses and the experiences of father employees. The trigger point for the investigation was that four multinational corporations (MNCs) introduced paid paternity leave globally (in 2017 and 2019). The implementation of this type of policy has increasing relevance for companies from an inclusion perspective. A current gender equality issue across countries is how to reduce the gender pay gap, which increases when women reach childbearing age (Bütikofer, Jensen, & Salvanes, 2018). Coincidentally, gender pay gap reporting was made compulsory for companies in the UK in 2017 and in Norway in 2020, the two countries where the MNCs in this study are headquartered. There is growing awareness in many countries that to achieve gender equality in paid work, we may need to emphasise gender equality regarding infant caregiving (Earle, Raub, Sprague, & Heymann, 2023). From a research perspective, paternity leave has become increasingly relevant as more than 50% of paternity leave research has been carried out since 2016 (Pizarro & Gartzia, 2023). So far, paternity leave research has mainly focused on national leave regulations or fathers’ experiences in one or two countries. The current thesis contributes to the extant literature by presenting and discussing a global corporate approach to paternity leave and how employees from diverse cultural backgrounds experience it. Corporate texts are analysed to provide insights into the communication of global paternity leave in the four MNCs. Furthermore, interview data provide insights into father employees’ and managers’ experiences of the policy. The thesis consists of three empirical papers that, together with the introductory chapter, emphasise the following three overarching research aims: (i) Investigate how the four MNCs communicate the offer of global paternity leave within the organisation, (ii) explore how father employees who have taken paternity leave perceive and experience such a policy, and (iii) find out how the leave policy is implemented. A critical insight from the first paper, Standardising Fatherhood across Cultures: A Linguistic Approach to Studying the Communication of a New Global Company Policy in Multinational Corporations (Bamford, 2022), is that there is tension between focusing on the aspect of gender equality and that of inclusion when justifying the new measure. The paper contributes to the cross fertilisation of linguistics and diversity management communication and demonstrates the importance of linguistic choices when communicating diversity management strategies. A critical insight from the second paper, Global Paternity Leave in four MNCs: a facilitator of paternal agency? is that the leave contributes to empowering fathers to become more involved parents. Specifically, the paper contributes to the literature on paternity leave by classifying leave-taking fathers along two dimensions: whether they took full or reduced leave and whether they experienced shared or sole care of the child(ren). One critical insight from the third paper, Global Paternity Leave as a DEI initiative in four Multinational Corporations, is that for the policy to be successful, the leave needs to make sense to the individual father and must be supported by the corporate structure as well as the work culture. The overall contribution is threefold: (1) to extend the diversity management (DM) literature towards a corporate measure advocating inclusion beyond typical minority groups; (2) to extend our understanding of male agency; and (3) introduce a framework for successful global paternity leave implementation across the four MNC

Lederstilens kraft : Et kvalitativt studie av hvordan ulike lederstiler påvirker psykologisk trygghet i barnehagens lederteam

I denne masteroppgaven undersøker vi hvordan ulike lederstiler kan fremme eller hemme psykologisk trygghet i lederteam i barnehager. Temaet fanget vår interesse allerede mens vi gikk på styrerutdanningen, tok endringsledelse og barnehagemiljø og ledelse hos NHH. Vi så også at gjennom vår egen praksis som styrere har interessen for temaet vært økende. Bakgrunnen for studien er også en større forståelse for at trygghet i lederteam er avgjørende for læring, samarbeid og utvikling, samt for å håndtere kompleksiteten og kravene som stilles til ledelse i barnehagesektoren. Teorigrunnlaget bygger på sentrale perspektiver innen ledelse og psykologisk trygghet. Amy Edmondsons (1999, 2018) teori om psykologisk trygghet danner hoved fundamentet, og suppleres med nyere forskning fra blant annet Fyhn (2021), Sandvik (2011) og Lai (2023). Vi benytter også teorien om situasjonsbestemt ledelse (Hersey & Blanchard, 1993), som viser at ledere må tilpasse stil etter situasjon og medarbeidernes behov. Sentrale lederstiler som transformasjonsledelse, tjenende ledelse, myndiggjørende ledelse og autoritær ledelse drøftes inngående. Metodisk er studiet forankret i en kvalitativ tilnærming. Det ble gjennomført totalt 11 intervjuer med både styrere og pedagogiske ledere fra ulike barnehager. Dataene ble analysert ved hjelp av tematisk analyse (Braun & Clarke, 2006), med støtte fra ChatGPT som refleksjonsverktøy. Funnene ble kategorisert i sentrale temaer knyttet til lederstilens betydning for trygghet, lederens tilstedeværelse, balansen mellom struktur og relasjon, og forskjeller i perspektiv mellom styrere og pedagoger. Etiske hensyn og selvrefleksjon har vært sentrale i gjennomføringen. Drøftingen viser at relasjonsorienterte lederstiler, spesielt transformasjonsledelse, tjenende og myndiggjørende ledelse, har en positiv effekt på den psykologiske tryggheten i lederteam. Ledere som er tilgjengelige, anerkjennende og støttende skaper rom for åpenhet, læring og utvikling. På den andre siden viser studien at autoritær eller fraværende ledelse skaper utrygghet, stillhet og stress, og kan føre til redusert engasjement og kvalitet i det pedagogiske arbeidet. Perspektivforskjellene mellom styrere og pedagogiske ledere illustrerer viktigheten av felles refleksjon og tilpasning av lederstil. I tillegg belyser funnene hvordan strukturelle tiltak som teamkontrakter og felles refleksjon kan bidra til å utvikle et trygt og læringsfremmende klima i lederteam. Studien konkluderer med at psykologisk trygghet i barnehagens lederteam er et resultat av bevisst og relasjonsorientert ledelse. For å lykkes med å utvikle og bevare trygghet, må ledere være villige til å jobbe med egen praksis, lytte til teamets behov og tilrettelegge for utvikling både på individ- og gruppenivå. Studien gir dermed viktige implikasjoner for lederutvikling i barnehagesektoren, og peker på behovet for videre forskning på hvordan trygghetsfremmende ledelse kan styrkes gjennom utdanning og praksis nær veiledning.nhhma

Public coverage of dental care: universal or targeted?

This paper analyses the impact of public dental care coverage-universal versus targeted-on access, pricing, and public spending in a model with two competing dental practices and heterogeneous patient income groups. We evaluate two types of reimbursement schemes: fixed subsidies and cost sharing. Our findings show that public coverage improves access for low-income patients but increases producer prices due to reduced price elasticity of de-mand. Targeted coverage provides greater access at lower public cost compared to universal coverage, especially under cost-sharing schemes. With fixed subsidies, both schemes achieve similar access, but targeted coverage remains more cost-efficient. The policy that maximises utilitarian welfare is targeted coverage with a fixed subsidy, balancing improved access for low-income patients against higher prices for high-income patients. This trade-off highlights challenges in implementing targeted policies but provides insights for designing efficient and equitable public dental care systems

Media attention and price competition: Evidence from Norwegian grocery retailing

Consumer journalism guides purchasing decisions when consumers lack complete information about attributes such as price, quality, and location. We focus on consumer journalism in the grocery market, where it is too time consuming for consumers to check all prices in different stores. This makes it attractive for media to attract readers by publishing grocery price comparisons. Norway’s largest newspaper has published grocery price comparisons over more than 20 years. However, the comparisons appear only sporadically (a few times each year) and include a relatively small number of items. Despite this, our empirical analysis of the Norwegian grocery market reveals that these price comparisons have a significant impact on market performance. They intensify competition, leading to price reductions when market players anticipate upcoming comparisons. Conversely, after a comparison is published, prices increase. Remarkably, sporadic consumer journalism, offering snapshots of prices for a few products, thus has a significant impact on grocery chains’ competitive pricing behavior. Chains heavily utilize a win in a price comparison in their own advertising, further reinforcing the competitive impact of consumer journalism

Nash-in-Nash Bargaining with Price-Setting Firms: Contracts, Profits, and the Role of Slotting Fees

This paper uses a Nash-in-Nash bargaining framework to consider why suppliers and retailers sometimes prefer to negotiate over linear contracts rather than over more sophisticated contracts such as two-part tariffs, and why, when they do negotiate over more sophisticated contracts, we often see negative fixed fees (slotting fees). We compare profits under the two forms of contracts and find under weak conditions that when negative fixed fees would arise in the case of two-part tari↵s, at least one side and often both sides will prefer this outcome to the outcome that would arise with linear contracts. In contrast, the opposite holds when positive fixed fees would arise in the case of two-part tariffs. Using linear demands, we demonstrate that retailers always favor negotiating over two-part tariffs when the fixed fees are negative, and prefer linear contracts when the fixed fees are positive. Suppliers generally share these preferences, unless they possess particularly strong bargaining power relative to retailers. Our findings have implications for retailer buyer power and are broadly consistent with stylized facts from the U.S. grocery industry

Investment universe-level returns to scale and active fund management

Research shows that competition negatively impacts fund alpha. I derive that fund managers can counteract this impact by adjusting the level of active management. In an international sample, I find that the impact of competition in funds’ investment universe depends on its source: funds face decreasing returns to the total size of active funds and increasing returns to the total size of passive funds. This implies that managers should increase active management when passive fund competition rises and reduce it when active fund competition increases. Empirical evidence suggests that managers adjust only to changes in competition from passive funds