Join the Club - On the Attractiveness of Golf Club Membership

This paper concerns the attractiveness for member ship in Swedish golf clubs. A representative voter model is derived and the attractiveness for member ship in golf clubs estimated using a unique data set on qualities of the golf course, the quality of neighboring courses and characteristics regarding the region where the golf club is located. Characteristics and composition of population within the municipality where the club is located have a significant impact on the attractiveness of the club. The attractiveness increases as the share of number of junior members decrease. Golf is found to be a substitute to publicly financed goods. Keywords: spatial econometrics, sports, utility maximization JEL classification: D71, L83, R12

Retailer Choice and Loyalty Schemes - Evidence from Sweden

From economic theory, it is known that consumer loyalty schemes can have lock-in effects resulting in entry barriers and higher prices. This paper concerns consumer loyalty schemes where the main issue is to test the hypothesis that loyalty scheme membership affects the choice of food retailer. This choice is modeled as a random utility maximization problem estimated with maximum likelihood. Based on a data set covering 1,551 Swedish households, we find evidence supporting this hypothesis. Further, according to the results, store characteristics and geographical distance matter for the choice of retailer while household characteristics are not found to have a significant effect.Bonus card; Conditional logit; Consumer choice; Distance; Food retailer; Loyalty scheme

Assessment of Green Public Procurement as a Policy Tool: Cost-efficiency and Competition Considerations

Public procurement is officially regarded as an effective means to secure environmental improvement. Estimates indicate that public authorities within the European Union typically purchase goods and services corresponding to approximately 16 percent of GNP per annum. Hence, it is believed, private firms can be stimulated to invest in sustainable production technologies if the market power of public bodies is exerted through Green Public Procurement (GPP) policy and legislation. However, GPP has been little studied within a framework of welfare economics. From this perspective we assess GPP as an environmental policy tool and compare it to other tools, such as taxes. The general findings are that GPP should not be used when cost-efficiency serves as the guiding rule for environmental activities and that there is a great need for research on the subject in general. This need concerns, besides effects on the environment, especially its effects on market competition. In all, this paper opens up for an interesting and most necessary research area, which is motivated by the importance of resource use for sustainability.Cost effectiviness; Degree of competition; Environmental Policy; Policy tools; Public Procurement Auctions; Sustainability

E-learning como herramienta de política regional: principios para un análisis de coste-beneficio

Un proyecto de ley presentado por el gobierno sueco en 2001 manifestaba que la educación superior debe fijarse el objetivo de atraer una mayor diversidad de estudiantes. Se habla de las herramientas TIC como un medio para llegar a nuevos grupos de estudiantes, p. ej., estudiantes que no pueden desplazarse debido a su situación social o a una discapacidad física. Al mismo tiempo, varias regiones de Suecia se enfrentan a una migración neta negativa que en gran parte está motivada por las condiciones del mercado de trabajo y por el desplazamiento de los jóvenes a otros lugares para poder acceder a la educación superior. Estas regiones sufren un déficit de capital humano en ciertas áreas de competencia. Haciendo frente común con el objetivo de este proyecto de ley del gobierno, los gobiernos nacionales y locales tratan de ofrecer soluciones integrando la educación superior y la política regional, es decir, llevando la educación superior a los habitantes en un intento de dirigirse a grupos de este tipo, como los que tienen fuertes lazos con la región con la esperanza de alentarlos a quedarse en la región después completar sus estudios. La educación superior es cara y los gobiernos locales son quienes se hacen cargo del coste adicional que supone llevar la educación a sus habitantes. Por tanto, para minimizar costes, se imparten programas y cursos con ayuda de herramientas TIC. El grado de formación impartido por Internet (e-learning) varía de un programa y curso a otro, desde un 100 por ciento de aprendizaje impartido por Internet a un aprendizaje de tipo mixto. Hay al menos tres cuestiones importantes a la hora de decidir si invertir o no en educación superior impartida por Internet. ¿Llega a nuevos grupos objetivo? ¿Es la educación impartida por Internet de la misma calidad, o superior, en comparación con el programa impartido en el campus? ¿Está motivada la inversión desde una perspectiva de bienestar social? El propósito de este estudio es analizar el e-learning como una herramienta de política regional y presentar los principios de análisis de coste-beneficio correspondientes a la educación superior impartida por Internet. Además, se presentan brevemente datos empíricos de un caso práctico sueco

Tender Evaluation and Award Methodologies in Public Procurement

The EU procurement directives stipulate that public contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder or to the bidder with the economically most advantageous offer; the latter requiring that a scoring rule must be specified. We provide a simple theoretical framework for tender evaluation and discuss the pros and cons of common scoring rules, e.g., highest quality (beauty contest) and price-and-quality-based evaluation. Some descriptive facts are presented for a sample of Swedish public procurements. We argue that the most common method, price-to-quality scoring, is flawed for several reasons. It is non-transparent, making accurate representation of the procurer’s preferences difficult. It is often open to strategic manipulation, due to dependence on irrelevant alternatives, and it is unreasonably non-linear in bid prices. We prefer quality-to-price scoring, where money values are assigned to different quality levels. When the costs of quality are relatively well-known, however, lowest price is the preferable award criteria.Public Contracts; Public Procurement; Scoring Rules; Quality

Skuldsaneringslagens hemvistkrav - en analys av kravets nuvarande och framtida tillämpning ur ett EU-perspektiv

In Sweden a person who has become so ensnared in debt that he cannot reasonably be presumed to be able to extricate himself from the debts within a foreseeable future, can turn to the public enforcement authority Kronofogdemyndigheten (KFM) and apply for debt relief. If debt relief is granted, the debtor will be entirely or partly released from his obligation to pay the debts. In order to be eligible for Swedish debt relief the debtor must however reside in Sweden. The general aim of this thesis has been to investigate the need for a residence requirement in relation to debt relief and analyze if the Swedish requirement is compatible with EU law. In my view, there is a great need for a residence requirement in relation to debt relief proceedings, this in order to ensure an effective application of the law. Since a Swedish debt relief decision probably won’t be recognized abroad, the decision cannot be used to prevent the enforcement of a claim brought before a competent court in another Member State. A debtor who is not domiciled in Sweden can therefore be subjected to different enforcement actions that may affect the debtors ability to pay the debts included in the Swedish debt relief proceeding. The residence requirement is also needed in order to obtain complete and correct information about the debtor’s personal and financial position. Regarding the question if the Swedish residence requirement is compatible with EU law, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) recently held that the requirement is liable to restrict the freedom of movement of workers and therefore in principle prohibited. The fact that a debtor resides abroad can for that reason no longer be used as a direct ground for refusal of a trial of the debt relief application. Instead, KFM will have to make an overall assessment of different factors regarding the debtor’s ties to Sweden and his personal and financial position in order to determine whether it could be considered reasonable that the debtor is granted debt relief. Considering the current discussions about changes in the EU Insolvency Regulation, the Swedish debt relief proceedings will probably soon be subjected to the Regulations provisions. The Regulation provides that only the courts in the country where the debtor’s main interests are located should be authorized to initiate an insolvency proceeding. For individuals the place of the main interests should be considered to be located in the country in which the debtor resides. The Regulation also includes rules of recognition and if the proposed changes are implemented a Swedish decision on debt relief will be recognized by the courts of other Member States. The proposed changes could therefore lead to a solution of a number of problems that may arise in respect to the current application on the law on debt relief. The changes are, in my opinion, also necessary in order to ensure an effective debt relief procedure.En person som blivit så svårt skuldsatt att vederbörande inte kan antas bli fri från sina skulder inom en överskådlig tid kan i Sverige ansöka om skuldsanering hos Kronofogdemyndigheten (KFM). Om en skuldsanering beviljas innebär detta att gäldenären helt eller delvis befrias från ansvaret att betala sina skulder. För att överhuvudtaget kunna bli föremål för skuldsanering krävs dock bland annat att gäldenären har hemvist i Sverige. Det övergripande syftet med denna uppsats har varit att undersöka behovet av ett hemvistkrav i skuldsaneringslagen och att analysera det svenska kravets förenlighet med EU-rätten. Enligt min uppfattning finns ett behov av ett hemvistkrav i förhållande till skuldsanering för att kunna säkerställa en effektiv tillämpning av lagens bestämmelser. Eftersom svenska skuldsaneringsbeslut som huvudregel inte erkänns i utlandet kan de inte användas för att hindra verkställighet av ett krav som väckts i en behörig domstol i en annan medlemsstat. En gäldenär som saknar hemvist i Sverige riskerar således att bli föremål för olika utmätningsåtgärder som kan påverka möjligheterna att betala de skulder som ingår i den svenska skuldsaneringen. Hemvistkravet är också en viktig förutsättning för att gäldenärens personliga och ekonomiska förhållanden ska kunna utredas på ett tillfredsställande sätt. Angående hemvistkravets förenlighet med EU-rätten har EU-domstolen nyligen konstaterat att det svenska hemvistkravet strider mot bestämmelserna om fri rörlighet för arbetstagare. Den omständigheten att den sökande har hemvist utomlands kan därför inte längre användas som en direkt grund för avslag på en skuldsaneringsansökan. KFM kommer istället att behöva göra en helhetsbedömning av olika omständigheter för att avgöra om det med hänsyn till gäldenärens anknytning till Sverige samt gäldenärens ekonomiska och personliga förhållanden i övrigt kan anses skäligt att gäldenären beviljas skuldsanering. Enligt aktuella förslag om ändringar i EU:s insolvensförordning kommer det svenska skuldsaneringsförfarandet framöver troligtvis att omfattas av förordningens bestämmelser. Förordningen stadgar bland annat att endast domstolarna i det land där gäldenären har sina huvudsakliga intressen har behörighet att inleda och besluta om ett insolvensförfarande. För fysiska personer ska hemvistorten anses utgöra platsen för de huvudsakliga intressena om inte annat visas. Utöver detta hemvistkrav innehåller förordningen även regler om erkännande och skulle de aktuella ändringsförslagen genomföras kommer ett svenskt skuldsaneringsbeslut i framtiden att erkännas av domstolarna i övriga medlemsstater. De föreslagna ändringarna kan således komma att lösa ett antal av de nuvarande problem som kan uppkomma vid den svenska skuldsaneringslagens tillämpning och enligt mig är ändringarna behövliga för att ge bättre förutsättningar för ett smidigt och effektivt skuldsaneringsförfarande

Choosing to Work Part-Time – Combinations of Motives and the Role of Preferences and Constraints

This article aims to contribute to the understanding of motives for part-time work and discuss the role of preferences and constraints by studying combinations of motives for part-time work in a case where the scope for preferences is great. The data was derived from a survey of full-time employees in a Swedish municipality who have opted to work part-time with lower salary. Eight groups of part-time workers with different combinations of motives were identified using cluster analysis. Although formally all of these employees were voluntarily working part-time, to a greater or lesser extent the preference for part-time can be understood as an accommodation to constraints for all of the eight clusters. Even though the motives were complex, for many, part-time work was a strategy to cope with a high workload in relation to their own health and capacity