Biofuels and Market Power - The Case of Swedish District Heating Plants

This paper tests for market power on the market for biofuels, employing a statistical model and making use of the idea of Granger causality. We use a panel data set of plant specific input prices and quantities of wood chip covering 91 Swedish district heating plants 1990-1996. If quantity Granger causes price, it is taken as an indication of market power. We find that the Swedish district heating plants to some degree have market power in the market for wood chips.market power; Granger causality; VAR; biofuel; district heating

Shareholder Influence on CSR: A Study of the Swedish Corporate Sector

There is a growing expectation that shareholders can foster corporate social responsibility (CSR) through engagement activities. The aim of this study is therefore to explore the influence that shareholders have on corporations in terms of CSR. The study, which is set in Sweden, finds that corporations themselves do not perceive shareholders to have a significant direct influence on how they address CSR. At the same time, corporations find socially minded shareholders to be legitimate and important stakeholders. Corporations find that shareholders amplify general stakeholder pressure in the area of CSR, and that they can function as a catalyst for CSR by adding legitimacy to the work of CSR professionals. The one area where shareholders stand out as having a direct influence on CSR is with regard to corporate transparency and CSR reporting.corporate social responsibility; CSR; socially responsible investment; shareholder activism; shareholder influence

Factor Demand and Market Power

This thesis consists of five self-contained papers on factor demand and market power. The main objective of Paper [I] is to analyze potential effects on the Swedish forest sector of a continuing rise in the use of forest resources as a fuel in energy generation. The background to the problem can be found in the commitments Sweden has made concerning energy policy. Two such commitments are the phase-out of nuclear power, and a decision that the Swedish energy system should be sustainable. However, an increasing use of forest resources as an energy input may have effects outside the energy sector. In this paper we attempt to consider this by estimating a system of demand and supply equations for the four main actors on the Swedish roundwood market; forestry, sawmills, pulpmills, and the energy sector. In Paper [II], we specify and estimate a dynamic factor demand model for the Swedish pulp industry. The model is estimated using firm specific Translog cost functions, and panel data from 1972 to 1990. We find weak evidence of adjustment costs for capital. Short- and long-term elasticities are calculated and the variances are estimated using the bootstrap technique. The results suggest that the user cost of capital is a significant determinant of pulp industry investments, while output level is not. We also find that pulp industry investments are insensitive to variations in the price of electricity. Paper [III] proposes a flexible form of adjustment cost function, which allows for constant, linear, concave, or convex costs of adjustment. An empirical illustration shows that the flexible form can detect both convex and non-convex adjustment costs. Furthermore, the flexible form permits testing for the experience effect on adjustment cost. The objective of paper [IV] is to analyze the price development and price formation for wood fuel used by the Swedish district heating sector. According to previous research there is a significant potential for increasing the use of wood fuel in Sweden, at a fairly moderate cost. The basic question raised in this paper is then why this potential is not realized. Specifically we propose a methodology for testing whether the reason is that market imperfections are present. According to our results we cannot reject the efficient market hypothesis for all years. The objective of Paper [V] is to test for market power on the market for biofuels. To achieve our objective we employ a statistical model and make use of the idea of Granger causality. We use a panel data set of plant specific input prices and quantities of wood chip covering a sample of Swedish district heating plants. If past values of quantity contribute significantly to the determination of price, quantity is said to Granger cause price, which we will treat as a sign of market power. According to our findings this effect is present and we conclude that the investigated plants to some degree has market power in the market for wood chips.demand and supply; dynamic factor demand; djustment costs; bootstrap; panel data; market power

Local Public Goods, Debt and Migration.

Migration raises a potential free rider problem for th eprovision of durable local goods if the late-comers can enjoy the public good without paying for it. Allowing communities to finance public goods by debt mitigates this problem, since future immigrants have to share the burden of the debt. However, in equilibrium there will be over-accumulation of local debt. There may be more or less public good than in first best, but conditional on the inefficiently high level of debt there will be too few public goods. A competitive market for land reduces but does not in general eliminate the inefficiencies.

Nonsense and the Freedom of Speech: What Meaning Means for the First Amendment

A great deal of everyday expression is, strictly speaking, nonsense. But courts and scholars have done little to consider whether or why such meaningless speech, like nonrepresentational art, falls within “the freedom of speech.” If, as many suggest, meaning is what separates speech from sound and expression from conduct, then the constitutional case for nonsense is complicated. And because nonsense is so common, the case is also important — artists like Lewis Carroll and Jackson Pollock are not the only putative “speakers” who should be concerned about the outcome. This Article is the first to explore thoroughly the relationship between nonsense and the freedom of speech; in doing so, it suggests ways to determine what “meaning” means for First Amendment purposes. The Article begins by demonstrating the scope and constitutional salience of meaningless speech, showing that nonsense is multifarious, widespread, and sometimes intertwined with traditional First Amendment values like autonomy, the marketplace of ideas, and democracy. The second part of the Article argues that exploring nonsense can illuminate the meaning of meaning itself. This, too, is an important task, for although free speech discourse often relies on the concept of meaning to chart the Amendment’s scope, courts and scholars have done relatively little to establish what it entails. Analytic philosophers, meanwhile, have spent the past century doing little else. Their efforts — echoes of which can already be heard in First Amendment doctrine — suggest that free speech doctrine is best served by finding meaning in the way words are used, rather than in their relationship to extra-linguistic concepts

Insider Bargaining Power, Starting Wages, and Involuntary Unemployment

Recent analyses of wage bargaining has emphasized the distinction between insiders and outsiders, yet one typically assumes that insiders and recently hired outsiders are paid the same wage. We consider a model where the starting wage for outsiders may be lower than the insider wage, but incentive constraints associated with turnover affect the form of the contract. We examine under what conditions the starting wage is linked to the insider wage so that increased bargaining power of insiders raises the starting wage and reduces hiring of outsiders.starting wage; bargain; seniority; unemployment

Civil Returns of Military Training: A Study of Young Men in Sweden

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of military training on earnings for young men in Sweden. The analysis is based on the cohort of men born in 1973. The 1973 cohort was conscripted during a time of rapid change in the Swedish security policy and substantial cutdowns of the armed forces. As a consequence, a relatively large part of the cohort was assigned a service category after the enlistment test but one third of these individuals were never conscripted. We argue that these organizational changes along with the set of important background variables that are available makes it possible to rely on selection on observables. A strong result is that military training has a positive effect on annual earnings at the age of 30 for the group in the private category that subsequently do not obtain an high educational level.Earnings; Conscription; Enlistment test; Military training