Will future immigration to Sweden make it easier to finance the welfare system?

Will future immigration to a country with a large public sector alleviate the increasing burden on the public welfare system due to an ageing population? The question is based on the experience that the age structure of immigrants differs from that of the native population. Fiscal impacts due to immigration depend mainly on the size, the age composition and the labour market integration of the additional population which arises because of immigration. A projection from Statistics Sweden about future immigration combined with the latest Long-Term Survey of the Swedish Economy has been used in this study. Calculations for Sweden up to the year 2050 show that the positive net contribution to the public sector from the additional population is rather small even with good integration into the labour market. The reason is that future immigration will increase the size of the population and thereby raise not only revenue from taxation but also public expenses. The fiscal impact is sensitive to the labour market integration of the additional population. The yearly positive/negative net contribution effect is less than 1% of GDP for most of the years. On the whole, the results are about the same even if we change the assumptions concerning the composition of future public revenues, the growth of public expenses, return migration, or the age-specific birth and death rates in the additional population. More considerable net fiscal effects would require a much higher and probably unrealistic level of future immigration.L'immigration future dans un pays disposant d'un vaste secteur public soulagera-t-elle le poids que le vieillissement démographique fait peser sur le système public de sécurité sociale? La question se base sur le fait que la structure par âge des immigrants diffère de celle de la population autochtone. L'impact fiscal de l'immigration dépend principalement de l'importance numérique, de la structure par âge et de l'intégration dans le marché du travail de la population additionnelle qui survient du fait de l'immigration. Une projection relative à l'immigration future réalisée par Statistiques Suède combinée aux données de la dernière enquête de longue durée sur l'économie suédoise a été utilisée pour cette étude. Les projections jusqu'en 2050 montrent que la contribution positive nette de la population additionnelle au secteur public est plutôt faible même dans le cas d’une bonne intégration dans le marché du travail. Ceci est dû au fait que l'immigration future augmentera l'effectif de la population, accroissant ainsi les revenus issus des taxes mais aussi les dépenses publiques. L'impact fiscal est sensible au degré d'intégration de la population additionnelle dans le marché du travail. La contribution annuelle nette positive/ négative est inférieure à 1% du PIB pour la plupart des années considérées. Dans l'ensemble, les résultats restent semblables quelles que soient les hypothèses relatives à la composition des recettes publiques futures, à la croissance des dépenses publiques, aux migrations de retour et aux taux de natalité et de mortalité par âge de la population additionnelle. Des effets fiscaux plus élevés nécessiteraient des niveaux d'immigration future beaucoup plus élevés et sans doute irréalistes

Citizen Electronic Identities using TPM 2.0

Electronic Identification (eID) is becoming commonplace in several European countries. eID is typically used to authenticate to government e-services, but is also used for other services, such as public transit, e-banking, and physical security access control. Typical eID tokens take the form of physical smart cards, but successes in merging eID into phone operator SIM cards show that eID tokens integrated into a personal device can offer better usability compared to standalone tokens. At the same time, trusted hardware that enables secure storage and isolated processing of sensitive data have become commonplace both on PC platforms as well as mobile devices. Some time ago, the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) released the version 2.0 of the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) specification. We propose an eID architecture based on the new, rich authorization model introduced in the TCGs TPM 2.0. The goal of the design is to improve the overall security and usability compared to traditional smart card-based solutions. We also provide, to the best our knowledge, the first accessible description of the TPM 2.0 authorization model.Comment: This work is based on an earlier work: Citizen Electronic Identities using TPM 2.0, to appear in the Proceedings of the 4th international workshop on Trustworthy embedded devices, TrustED'14, November 3, 2014, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2666141.266614

Domicile Preferences in Employment: The Case of Alaska Hire

Background. Regional variations in mortality and morbidity have been shown in Europe and USA. Longitudinal studies have found increased mortality, dissimilarities in mortality pattern, and differences in utilization of healthcare between foreign- and native-born Swedes. No study has been found comparing mortality among foreign-born and native-born Swedes in relation to catchment areas/counties. Methods. The aim was to describe and compare mortality among foreign-born persons and native Swedes during 1970–1999 in 24 counties in Sweden. Data from the Statistics Sweden and the National Board of Health and Welfare was used, and the database consisted of 723,948 persons, 361,974 foreign-born living in Sweden in 1970 and aged 16 years and above and 361,974 matched Swedish controls. Results. Latest county of residence independently explained higher mortality among foreign-born persons in all but four counties; OR varied from 1.01 to 1.29. Counties with a more rural structure showed the highest differences between foreign-born persons and native controls. Foreign-born persons had a lower mean age (1.0–4.3 years) at time of death. Conclusion. County of residence influences mortality; higher mortality is indicated among migrants than native Swedes in counties with a more rural structure. Further studies are needed to explore possible explanations

Winter thermal comfort and indoor air quality in Swedish grade school classrooms, as assessed by the children

This paper presents results from a pilot thermal comfort study in five Swedish grade school classrooms in three different buildings during winter 2015/16. The study includes measurements of environmental parameters (air temperature, globe temperature, relative humidity, air speed, CO2) and questionnaire surveys designed to match the children’s cognitive level. The questionnaire includes questions about thermal perception, air quality and air movement, as well as the children’s clothing level. The aim of this study is to investigate whether recently found differences in thermal sensation between children and adults outside the heating season also apply to the winter season. Children’s assessment is compared to the objective measurements during the surveys, to winter design criteria for school classrooms and to comfort temperatures from previous studies. The results agree with the previously found warmer sensation of children compared to adults’ predicted thermal sensation based on the currently used PMV model, although this time the difference is smaller. Regarding air quality, no relationship was found between children’s assessment and CO2 levels

Residential mobility among foreign-born persons living in Sweden is associated with lower mortality

There have been few longitudinal studies on the effect of within-country mobility on patterns of mortality in deceased foreign-born individuals. The results have varied; some studies have found that individuals who move around within the same country have better health status than those who do not change their place of residence. Other studies have shown that changing one’s place of residence leads to more self-reported health problems and diseases. Our aim was to analyze the pattern of mortality in deceased foreign-born persons living in Sweden during the years 1970–1999 in relation to distance mobility. Data from Statistics Sweden and the National Board of Health and Welfare was used, and the study population consisted of 281,412 foreign-born persons aged 16 years and over who were registered as living in Sweden in 1970. Distance mobility did not have a negative effect on health. Total mortality was lower (OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.69–0.73) in foreign-born persons in Sweden who had changed their county of residence during the period 1970–1990. Higher death rates were observed, after adjustment for age, in three ICD diagnosis groups “Injury and poisoning”, “External causes of injury and poisoning”, and “Diseases of the digestive system” among persons who had changed county of residence