In this paper we study the importance of culture on gender roles – preferences and beliefs about the appropriate role of women in society – for the gender gap in choice of major, using the epidemiological approach. We focus on second-generation immigrants in Sweden and compare the major choices at high school and college among opposite-sex siblings. By incorporating sibling fixed effects we can more convincingly than in previous literature control for factors apart from culture on gender roles that may affect educational choices. We use the female relative share in traditionally male fields to proxy for culture on gendered beliefs about educational choices in the source country. We find a negative gender gap in the probability of having majored in a STEM or male-dominated field, and that this gender gap varies with the proxy for culture on gender roles. We observe the same pattern when we study the probability to have majored in a female-dominated field. Our results clearly indicate that policies aimed at changing stereotypical gendered beliefs about educational choices have the potential to decrease the gender gap in major choice.

We present an analysis of how refugee immigration affects public-sector finances during the refugees' first years of stay in Sweden. Two different measures are presented. First, public-sector revenues are related to public-sector costs under the assumption that public costs increase in proportion to refugee immigration. Second, public-sector revenues are related to public-sector costs when, in the short run, costs for public administration, infrastructure, and national defense are assumed to be fixed as refugee immigration increases. We find that refugee immigration implies a net cost for public-sector finances for several years and that this cost to a large extent is dependent on the refugees' labor market assimilation.

We present results from a unique nationwide survey conducted in Sweden on sexual orientation and job satisfaction. Our results show that gay men, on average, seem more satisfied with their job than heterosexual men; lesbians appear less satisfied with their job than heterosexual women. However, the issue of sexual orientation and job satisfaction is complex since gay men, despite their high degree of job satisfaction, like lesbians find their job more mentally straining than heterosexuals. We conclude that gay men and lesbians are facing other stressers at work than heterosexuals do. We also conclude that discrimination and prejudice may lead gay men to have low expectations about their job; these low expectations may translate into high job satisfaction. In contrast, prejudice and discrimination may hinder lesbians from realizing their career plans, resulting in low job satisfaction.

This paper compares life satisfaction among the elderly (61 years of age or older) who are self-employed, wage-employed or out of the labour force in Sweden with the help of a unique survey. Sweden is interesting since the share of elderly, just as in other countries, has increased during the last decade. Encouraging the elderly to remain in the labour force is now high on the political agenda. We find that people who are self-employed report higher life satisfaction than people who are wage-employed or out of the labour force. General health is a strong determinant of life satisfaction but the differences among the groups remain when we control for health related variables. Further, the self-employed report higher job satisfaction than the wage-employed, and find their work less mentally stressful. Even though our results are driven by different types of selection, we conclude that they underline the need for a flexible working life. Stimulating self-employment among older people may be an effective way to improve their life satisfaction, to increase Sweden’s labour supply and to keep older people in the labour force.

This paper compares life satisfaction among the elderly (61 years of age or older) who are self-employed, wage-employed or out of the labour force in Sweden with the help of a unique survey. Sweden is interesting since the share of elderly, just as in other countries, has increased during the last decade. Encouraging the elderly to remain in the labour force is now high on the political agenda. We find that people who are self-employed report higher life satisfaction than people who are wage-employed or out of the labour force. General health is a strong determinant of life satisfaction but the differences among the groups remain when we control for health related variables. Further, the self-employed report higher job satisfaction than the wage-employed, and find their work less mentally straining or stressful. Even though our results are driven by different types of selection, we conclude that they underline the need for a flexible working life. Stimulating self-employment among older people may be an effective way to improve their life satisfaction, to increase Sweden’s labour supply and to keep older people in the labour force.

According to the Jack-of-all-trades theory, people with a balanced set of skills are more suitable for self-employment than are those without. In this paper we test this theory using Swedish Military Enlistment data. This data enables us to construct a measure of balance in abilities that, in comparison to measures used in previous research, is less contaminated by endogeneity problems. We find clear support for the Jack-of-all-trades theory, in the sense that the likelihood of being self-employed is higher for individuals whose skills are balanced. In addition, their earnings from self-employment tend to be higher.

Sweden was early to legalize same-sex partnership (1995), to allow same-sex couples to adopt children (2003), and to offer same-sex couples fertility treatment through the national health system (2005). Using population data, we identify children of lesbian parents as those whose biological mother was a registered same-sex partner no later than six months after the child's birth. The number of such children increased markedly from 1995 to 2010 with a total of 750 children for the whole period. We find that boys and girls with lesbian parents had 2.4 percent lower birth weight than other children, a difference that is statistically significant from zero at the 5 percent level. Girls, but not boys, also have a higher probability of having a low birth weight. We follow these children until age ten and observe diseases of the respiratory system. Boys with lesbian parents have a significantly lower probability of such diseases (-3.4 percentage points), and girls with lesbian parents an insignificantly higher probability (+2.4 percentage points). Our analysis of school outcomes at age ten uses a small sample so precision is low. The point estimates show that boys with lesbian parents outperform other children by around 10 percentiles higher test scores in Math and Swedish. These differences are barely significant, while estimates for girls are lower and not significant. For all outcomes, we find that children with lesbian parents benefit from their mother's socio-economic status, whereas they suffer in terms of birth weight from having been exposed to fertility treatment.

Äldre egenföretagare upplever högre livskvalitet än såväl löneanställda som de som lämnat arbetsmarknaden. Att stimulera entreprenörskap bland äldre kan vara ett effektivt sätt för samhället att öka arbetskraftsutbudet och minska påfrestningarna på pensionssystemet, skriver Mats Hammarstedt och Lina Aldén vid Linnéuniversitetet.