Suchergebnisse

ObjectivesWomen are underrepresented in top positions and experimental evidence suggests that one explanation is gender differences in preferences for competition, that is, fewer women than men enter competition‐intensive careers. Less is known about whether there are remaining gender differences in competitiveness within the subpopulation of men and women that choose to pursue such careers, which creates further female underrepresentation in top positions. Studying a subcomponent of competitiveness, namely resilience to failures, this article provides quasi experimental evidence from the field on this issue.MethodsI study professional golfers' resilience to failures by estimating the causal effect of a failure in one tournament on the performance in the next.ResultsThe results show that both male and female golfers respond negatively to failures, and that their responses are virtually identical.ConclusionThus, in this particular subpopulation of competitive men and women there seems to be no gender difference in resilience to failures.

Essay 1 (with Oskar Nordström Skans): This paper provides field evidence on the causal impact of past successes on future performances. Since persistence in success or failure is likely to be linked through, potentially time-varying, ability it is intrinsically difficult to identify the causal effect of succeeding on the probability of performing well in the future. We therefore employ a regression discontinuity design on data from professional golf tournaments exploiting that almost equally skilled players are separated into successes and failures half-way into the tournaments (the "cut"). We show that players who (marginally) succeeded in making the cut substantially increased their performance in subsequent tournaments relative to players who (marginally) failed to make the cut. This success-effect is substantially larger when the subsequent (outcome) tournament involves more prize money. The results therefore suggest that past successes provide an important prerequisite when performing high-stakes tasks. Essay 2: Recent experimental evidence suggests that women in general are more discouraged than men by failures which potentially can explain why women, on average, are less likely than men to reach top-positions in firms. This paper provides the first quasi-experimental evidence from the field on this issue using data from all-female and all-male professional golf tournaments to see if this result can be replicated among competitive men and women. These top-performing men and women are active in an environment with multiple rounds of competition and the institutional set-up of the tournaments makes it possible to causally estimate the effect of the result in one tournament on the performance in the next. The results show that both male and female golfers respond negatively to a failure and that their responses are virtually identical. This finding suggests that women's difficulties in reaching top-positions in firms are caused by external rather than internal barriers. Essay 3: Voting is a fundamental human right. Yet, individuals that are younger than 18 do typically not have this right since they are considered uninformed. However, recent evidence tentatively suggests that the political knowledge of youths is endogenous to the voting age. I test for the existence of such dynamic adjustments utilizing voting age discontinuities caused by Swedish laws. I employ a regression discontinuity strategy on Swedish register data to estimate the causal effect of early age voting right on political knowledge around age 18. The results do not support the existence of positive causal effects of early age voting right on political knowledge. Thus, we should not expect that 16-year-olds respond by acquiring more political knowledge if they are given the right to vote. This finding weakens the case for a lowering of the voting age from 18 to 16. Essay 4 (with Lena Hensvik): We postulate that firms' production losses from absence depend on the employees' internal substitutability, incentivizing firms to keep absence low in positions with few substitutes. Using Swedish employer-employee data we show that absence is substantially lower in such positions even conditional on establishment and occupation fixed effects. The result reflects sorting on both entry and exit margins, with stronger separations responses when it was difficult to predict the absence of the employees beforehand. These findings highlight that internal substitution insures firms against production disruptions caused by absence and that absence costs are important aspects of firms' hiring and separations decisions.

Voting is a fundamental human right. Yet, individuals that are younger than 18 do typically not have this right since they are considered uninformed. However, recent evidence tentatively suggests that the political knowledge of youths is endogenous to the voting age. I test for the existence of such dynamic adjustments utilizing voting age discontinuities caused by Swedish laws. I employ a regression discontinuity strategy on Swedish register data to estimate the causal effect of early age voting right on political knowledge around age 18. The results do not support the existence of positive causal effects of early age voting right on political knowledge. Thus, we should not expect that 16-year-olds respond by acquiring more political knowledge if they are given the right to vote. This finding weakens the case for a lowering of the voting age from 18 to 16.

Abstract
The study of historic costumes tells us much more than just who wore what and when. It provides us with a unique insight into historic fashion trends, production techniques and materials. They may also provide us with a looking glass into the social economic and political situation of the past. In this article, I will examine a printed cotton gown from a private collection, worn in Massachusetts c. 1780, during one of the most significant periods in American history.

Abstract. Awareness of sustainability, climate change and social issues is rapidly increasing around the world. Society, governmental and non-governmental organizations, among other stakeholders, are continuously demanding companies to take on more responsibility for the economic, environmental, and social impacts caused by business. Systematic and proactive approach to management of corporate social responsibility (CSR) can aid companies to cope with those demands. CSR management is complex and multidimensional, and it requires involvement from various company functions. Thus, it is not a simple task for any company, let alone for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to examine CSR reporting process as a tool for CSR management in SMEs. This was based on a hypothesis that the CSR reporting process would help SMEs to understand and manage CSR more systematically. Subsequently, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was chosen as the CSR reporting framework to be applied in this thesis. This thesis follows participatory action research approach because it is particularly suitable for development-oriented research in which multiple research methods need to be used. Furthermore, participatory action research supports continuous cooperation between the researcher and the case company, as well as employee engagement, which were essential to the empirical part of this thesis. Multiple methods used in this action research include an extensive literature review, organizing a workshop in a case company, comparative analysis of other companies' CSR reports, and developing a customized guidebook for continuous CSR reporting process in accordance with GRI standards. Results of this research indicate that CSR reporting process, especially following a framework such as GRI, can raise SMEs' awareness of various CSR issues and CSR management in general. Stakeholder and topic materiality analyses can be beneficial tools for SMEs in the beginning of CSR management. However, the results ...

Small arable fields are beneficial with regard to ecosystem services, e.g., concerning biodiversity. By selecting appropriate crops and cultivation practices, arable fields can also be used as carbon sinks. The objectives of this study were to investigate what impact field conditions (e.g., field size and shape) and payments (subsidies) for environmental benefits have on profitability. A dynamic simulation model was used to simulate machine operations in fields of two different shapes and five different sizes (from 0.75 to 12.00 ha). A wide range of crops cultivated in Sweden were investigated (fallow land and plantation of Norway spruce were also included). A perimeter-based subsidy was suggested in order to conserve and promote biodiversity, and an area- and crop-based subsidy was suggested in order to promote sequestration of soil organic carbon (SOC). The results showed that, without financial support and from a purely economic point of view, most field types investigated should be planted with Norway spruce. With currently available subsidies, e.g., EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) direct payments, hybrid aspen, poplar, fallow, and extensive ley cultivation are the most profitable crops. Perimeter-based subsidies favoured the net gain for small fields. As expected, a subsidy for sequestration of SOC favoured cultivation of specific SOC-sequestering crops such as ley, willow, and poplar. Our recommendation for future studies is to investigate a well-balanced combination of perimeter-based support and SOC sequestration support that benefits biodiversity and climate under different cultivation conditions.