Lawyer\u27s Role in Resistance

De svenska bostadspriserna har fortsatt att stiga och tillsammans med det låga ränteläget har även hushållens skuldsättning stigit. Utöver detta har hushållens amorteringsvilja minskat vilket lett till en oro över att hushållen inte kommer klara av framtida svängningar i ekonomin. Denna oro visar sig i införandet av bolånetak och nya amorteringsrekommendationer. Hur svenska hushåll beslutar kring amortering och sparande är en outforskad fråga. Studier tyder på att individer inte alltid agerar rationellt, alltså samlar in och hanterar all tillgänglig information och därefter agerar för att maximera nyttan. Forskare menar att i vissa fall är bostadsägande ett avsteg från rationellt beteende. Behavioral finance menar att individer påverkas av psykologiska faktorer vilket inkluderar känslor, mentala genvägar och sociala influenser. Generellt sett har individer tre alternativ: Amortera som ett sorts sparande och därmed minska risken vid sjunkande bostadspriser och stigande räntor. Likviditeten för andra investeringar och konsumtion minskar. Amortera inte och öka därmed likviditeten och möjligheten att konsumera eller investera i andra former som ger högre avkastning. Risken vid sjunkande bostadspriser och stigande räntor ökar. Varken amortera eller spara. Detta leder till forskningsfrågan: Hur påverkar psykologiska faktorer svenska hushålls amorterings- och sparbeteende? För att få en djupare förståelse för detta beteende krävs ett kvalitativt angreppssätt i form av intervjuer. De semistrukturerade intervjuerna bygger på psykologiska faktorer kategoriserade överensstämmandes med tidigare forskning. Kategoriseringen innefattar känslor och känslomässiga influenser, informationsprocessens strategier och uppfattningar samt psykologiska och sociala motiv, vilka i sin tur innehåller psykologiska faktorer. Vi fördjupar Sahi et al.s (2013) studie vilken vi adderat relevanta teorier till. Detta bildar den teori- och analysmodell analysen utgår ifrån. Urvalet består av fem individer bosatta i Umeå och Stockholm med varierande ålder, utbildning etcetera. Deras gemensamma nämnare är att de är bosatta i Sverige, innehar en bostad och ett bolån. Studien fann att de svenska hushållen ser amortering som en form av sparande. Hushållen minskar inte amorteringen för att kunna investera i andra former med högre avkastning. Amorterings- och sparbeteendet påverkas av psykologiska faktorer men på olika sätt. En gemensam faktor är att alla intervjupersoner förlitar sig på trender vad gäller pris på bostadsmarknaden. Vidare indikerar resultatet att individer inte agerar enligt den traditionella ekonomiska teorin om rationella beslutsfattare. Till skillnad från normativa teorier så som den traditionella ekonomiska teorin, bidrar vi med denna studie en förståelse för hur svenska hushålls faktiska beteende.

Car Age, Taxation, Scrappage Premiums and the ELV Directive

A chain of replacement model is used to examine the effects of automobile taxes and of a scrappage premium on the life length of cars, and on the size of the car fleet. The predictions of the model are tested on data on the scrappage of cars in Sweden 1989-2002. The theoretical model predicts that increased taxes on the purchase of cars should increase the life length of cars, and reduce the number of cars. A scrappage premium would have the opposite effects. Changes in periodic taxes would have no effects on the life length of automobiles, but would reduce the size of the car stock. The econometric analysis indicates, however, that the effects both on the life-length of cars, and on the size of the car parc are small. On the basis of the conclusions from the theoretical and the empirical analysis, the possible implications of the European Union's Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of life vehicles (ELV) are discussed.Taxes; Automobiles; Accelerated Vehicle Retirement Programs; Scrappage; ELV Directive

Detention by Any Other Name

An unaffordable bail requirement has precisely the same effect as an order of pretrial detention: the accused person is jailed pending trial. It follows as a logical matter that an order requiring an unaffordable bail bond as a condition of release should be subject to the same substantive and procedural protections as an order denying bail altogether. Yet this has not been the practice. This Article lays out the logical and legal case for the proposition that an order that functionally imposes detention must be treated as an order of detention. It addresses counterarguments and complexities, including both empirical and normative ambiguity in the concept of “unaffordable” bail. It explains in practical terms what it would entail for a court system to treat unaffordable bail as a detention order. One hurdle is that both legal and policy standards for pretrial detention are currently in flux. Recognizing unaffordable bail as a detention order foregrounds the question of when pretrial detention is justified. This is the key question the bail reform movement must now confront

School Vouchers in Practice: Competition Won't Hurt You!

An important issue in the debate on voucher systems and school choice is what effects competition from independent schools will have on public schools. Sweden has made a radical reform of its system for financing schools. Independent and public schools operate on close to equal terms under a voucher system covering all children. Sample selection models are estimated, using a data set of about 28 000 individuals. In addition, panel data models are estimated on 288 Swedish municipalities. The findings support the hypothesis that school results in public schools improve due to competition.Public Education; Independent Schools; Student Achievement; School Vouchers; School Choice; Sample Selection Model; Panel Data Model; Instrumental Variable Estimation

Applications using estimates of forest parameters derived from satellite and forest inventory data

From the combination of optical satellite data, digital map data, and forest inventory plot data, continuous estimates have been made for several forest parameters (wood volume, age and biomass). Five different project areas within Sweden are presented which have utilized these estimates for a range of applications. The method for estimating the forest parameters was a ”k-Nearest Neighbor” algorithm, which used a weighted mean value of k spectrally similar reference plots. Reference data were obtained from the Swedish National Forest Inventory. The output was continuous estimates at the pixel level for each of the variables estimated. Validation results show that accuracy of the estimates for all parameters was low at the pixel level (e.g., for total wood volume RMSE ranged from 58-80%), with a tendency toward the mean, and an underestimation of higher values while overestimating lower values. However, when the accuracy of the estimates is assessed over larger areas, the errors are lower, with best results being 10% RMSE over a 100 ha aggregation, and 17% RMSE over a 19 ha aggregation. Applications presented in this paper include moose and bird habitat studies, county level planning activities, use as input information to prognostic programs, and computation of statistics on timber volume within drainage basins and smaller land holdings. This paper provides a background on the kNN method and gives examples of how end users are currently applying satellite-produced estimation data such as these

Impurity effects on the grain boundary cohesion in copper

Segregated impurities at grain boundaries can dramatically change the mechanical behavior of metals, while the mechanism is still obscure in some cases. Here, we suggest an unified approach to investigate segregation and its effects on the mechanical properties of polycrystalline alloys using the example of 3$sp$ impurities (Mg, Al, Si, P, or S) at a special type $\Sigma 5(310)[001]$ tilt grain boundary in Cu. We show that for these impurities segregating to the grain boundary the strain contribution to the work of grain boundary decohesion is small and that the chemical contribution correlates with the electronegativity difference between Cu and the impurity. The strain contribution to the work of dislocation emission is calculated to be negative, while the chemical contribution to be always positive. Both the strain and chemical contributions to the work of dislocation emission generally become weaker with the increasing electronegativity from Mg to S. By combining these contributions together we find, in agreement with experimental observations, that a strong segregation of S can reduce the work of grain boundary separation below the work of dislocation emission, thus embrittling Cu, while such an embrittlement cannot be produced by a P segregation because it lowers the energy barrier for dislocation emission relatively more than for work separation

Nonlinear conductance of nanowires - A signature of Luttinger liquid effects?

We analyze recent measurements of the room temperature current-voltage characteristics of gold nanowires, whose zero current conductance is quantized in units of $2e^2/h$. A faster than linear increase of current with voltage was observed at low voltages beginning from $V_c=0.1$V. We analyze the nonlinear behavior in terms of a dynamic Coulomb blockade of conducting modes and show that it may be explained as a Luttinger-liquid effect.Comment: 13 pages, latex with supplied stylefile, 3 figures in eps format, submitted to Superlattices and Microstructure