Experiment In Sweden Research Articles

Misconduct by private security officers and trust in the police: evidence from a natural experiment in Sweden

ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown that police assaults reduce trust in the police among the group affected by the incidents. As the phenomenon of plural policing emerges and the actors in policing become intertwined, blurring the boundaries between them, analysis of the impact of security guards’ actions becomes warranted. This paper investigates the impact of two security guard incidents on trust in the police in Sweden, a high-trust society, using the Unexpected Events During Survey Design, with data from the European Social Survey Wave 9. The results can be interpreted as a causal relationship and point to the fact that immigrant women’s trust in the police significantly reduced as a result of incidents, raising the importance of the fact that the immigrant group is not homogeneous and that those who suffer multiple stigmatisation may be particularly vulnerable to incidents of abuse. Furthermore, our findings highlight the potential for spill-over effects within plural policing even in high-trust societies, and the need for continuous cooperation among the actors in the security network.

Change in avoidable hospitalizations for low-income elders following quasi-market reform in primary care – Evidence from a natural experiment in Sweden

Quasi-market reforms have been increasingly implemented in tax-funded health care, but their effects in terms of equity, quality and socioeconomic differentials in quality remain sparsely studied.We create a natural experiment setup exploiting the differential timing of a set of quasi-market reforms – including patient choice, free establishment of providers and changes in provider remuneration –, implemented in primary care in the two largest Swedish regions (Stockholm and Västra Götaland) in 2008–2009. Using a database with individual level data from 2005 to 2009, we construct a difference-in-difference-in-differences model that compares pre to post reform changes in avoidable hospitalizations (AHs) for low-income elders and a matched comparison group, in the region exposed to, versus unexposed to, reform (total N ∼ 200 000).The results show that for low-income elders – a group dominated by older women – reform led to higher AH rates, i.e., worse primary health care quality, than what would have been the case in absence of reform. Specifically, low-income elders exposed to reform missed out on improvements in AHs seen simultaneously in the unexposed region. At the same time, the reform had on average no effect for comparable, non-low-income, peers. The fact that this pattern was specific for avoidable hospitalizations – judged as amenable to interventions in primary care –, but not present for total hospitalizations, supports that it was driven by reform implementation rather than other factors.The study contributes with high-quality empirical evidence to a policy relevant but sparsely researched area and highlights the necessity to consider differential effects of organizational changes across socioeconomic groups.

Particularized Preferences for Civilian Protection? A Survey Experiment

Abstract Even as the protection of civilians becomes a widely held norm, there is substantial variation in public support for humanitarian policy efforts. We use a survey experiment in Sweden to gain insights into this puzzle. Our survey confirms that citizens generally support military, but particularly non-military, means of civilian protection. Yet, we also find that support is partly particularized. Specifying that civilians may have ties to extremist groups (as victims or supporters) reduces support for proposals to provide humanitarian aid, contribute to UN observer missions and accept refugees. We trace this reduced support to lower moral obligation and higher threat perceptions. In contrast to expectations, respondents do not prioritize the protection of co-nationals, or women and children. Manipulation checks suggest the explanation that perceptions of who constitutes a civilian are subjective. Our findings provide insights into the domestic political determinants of atrocity prevention abroad.

Mitigating information frictions in trade: Evidence from export credit guarantees

Information frictions make foreign trade risky. In particular, the risk of buyer default deters firms from selling abroad. To address this issue, many countries offer export credit guarantees to provide insurance to exporters. In this paper, we investigate the causal effects of guarantees by exploiting a quasi-natural experiment in Sweden and rich register data on guarantees, firms and trade. Estimates from a fuzzy regression discontinuity design show large positive effects on the probability of exporting and the value of exports to the destination for which the guarantees are issued. These results are robust to an alternative approach using a difference-in-differences matching estimator. Further findings suggest that guarantees impact firms heterogeneously and play an important role in resolving buyer default risk and easing liquidity constraints. Larger impacts are observed in non-OECD countries, on smaller, liquidity constrained exporters and for firms selling products that face a relatively high cost of buyer default.

Gendered ethnic discrimination and the role of recruiter gender. A field experiment

Relying on data from a large-scale field experiment in Sweden, this article studies discrimination in recruitment on the basis of gender and ethnicity combined with recruiter gender. The study includes 5641 job applications sent in response to advertised vacancies, and the employer callbacks to these. Gender and either a Swedish or a foreign-sounding name were randomly assigned to the applications, and recruiter gender was documented whenever available. Based on the callback rates, there is evidence of ethnic discrimination against foreign-named job applicants by both male and female recruiters. Also, male applicants with foreign-sounding names are discriminated more than female applicants with foreign-sounding names. Thus, the results show gendered ethnic discrimination in the Swedish labor market, and this does not appear to depend on recruiter gender in general. However, the patterns for gendered ethnic discrimination by recruiter gender vary across occupational categories.

Epiphytic microbiota in Swedish grass-clover herbage and the effect of silage additives on fermentation profiles and bacterial community compositions of the resulting silages.

To investigate the epiphytic microbiota in grass-clover herbage harvested at different sites and occasions; and to explore the effect of different silage additives on the resulting silage microbiota. Herbage was harvested from grass-clover leys at geographically distributed sites in a long-term field experiment in Sweden, in early and late season of two consecutive years. Different silages were made from the herbage using; 1) no additive, 2) acid-treatment, and 3) inoculation by starter culture. Herbages were analyzed for botanical and chemical composition, and the resulting silages for products of fermentation. Bacterial DNA was extracted from herbage and silage samples, followed by sequencing using Illumina 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Herbage microbiota showed no clear correlation to site or harvesting time. Silage additives had a major effect on the ensiling process; inoculation resulted in well fermented silages comprising a homogenous microbiota dominated by the genera Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. A minor effect of harvest time was also observed, with generally a more diverse microbiota in second harvest silages. Untreated silages showed a higher relative abundance from non-lactic acid bacteria compared to acid treated silages. In most silages, only a few bacterial amplicon sequence variants contributed to most of the relative abundance. The epiphytic microbiota in grass-clover herbage were found to be random and not dependent on site. From a microbial point of view, the most predictable and preferable silage outcome was obtained by inoculation with a starter culture. Acid-treatment with formic- and propionic acid surprisingly resulted in a less preferable silage. Silage making without additives cannot be recommended based on our results.

Effect of short-term perennial leys on life cycle environmental performance of cropping systems: An assessment based on data from a long-term field experiment

Modern agriculture’s dependence on the intensive use of inputs, such as chemical fertiliser and pesticides, leads to high environmental impacts and, possibly, vulnerability in food security, since most of these inputs are imported from other countries. This calls for more sustainable and resilient agricultural practices. Diversification of crop rotations, e.g. by including perennial leys, enhances provision of ecosystem services, leading to healthier crops and increased yields. Perennial crops also increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, which is interesting from a global warming mitigation perspective. In addition, legume-rich leys can utilise atmospheric nitrogen (N) through symbiotic association with N2-fixing bacteria. However, few studies have evaluated the effects of short-term perennial leys in rotation on cropping system performance over long periods and under different conditions. In this study, we used data from three sites in a long-term experiment in Sweden (initiated in the 1960 s), in combination with Life Cycle Assessment methodology, to assess the environmental and yield effect of including ley in crop rotations. Two N fertiliser regimes (High, Low) in combination with three six-year crop rotations, consisting of either i) two-year mixed grass-legume ley, ii) two-year pure grass ley or iii) annual crops without ley, were compared. Environmental impacts (climate impact, energy resource depletion, eutrophication potential) of the different combinations were quantified per kg harvested crop (expressed in cereal units, CU) and per hectare. The lowest environmental impact, at all sites, was found for the crop rotation with two-year mixed ley under the Low N regime. On average, this combination resulted in 329 g lower GHG emissions per kg CU than the crop rotation without ley and Low N, primarily due to lower input of chemical N fertiliser, which reduced the impact from fertiliser production and soil N2O emissions. Comparison of mean SOC change over the study period revealed reduced SOC stocks for all rotations and all sites, especially in the rotation without ley. Therefore, including short-term perennial leys, especially leys containing legume species, in crop rotations can be a useful tool in meeting policy targets on reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture, and in reducing the dependence on purchased agricultural commodities. However, despite the potential benefits of rotational leys, the market demand for the produced ley biomass may be insufficient. Hence, incentives to increase demand are necessary to promote large-scale adoption, for example, for use in bioenergy production and feed.

Long-term manure and cropping systems effect on soil water vapour sorption characteristics is controlled by soil texture

Increasing studies indicate that long-term experiments (LTEs) involving manure application and optimal cropping systems can significantly improve soil physicochemical properties, which may also affect the soil water retention curve (WRC) in the wet region (pF < 4.2). However, few studies have explored the effect of long-term manure application and cropping systems on soil WRC in the dry region (water vapour sorption isotherms, WSIs) (pF > 4.2) as well as the associated soil physicochemical properties. To overcome this knowledge gap, we investigated the effect of long-term manure application (24 to 177 years) and different cropping systems (71 to 82 years) on soil organic carbon (SOC) content, WSIs, hysteresis, and specific surface area (SSA). Soil samples were collected from five long-term manure experiments in Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, and Denmark, and two long-term cropping systems experiments in the United Kingdom. The five manure LTEs comprised three soil textures (silty clay, silt loam, and sandy loam) with one to four crops grown in the fields, including wheat, barley, maize, and grass/clover. The cropping system LTEs comprised silt loam and sandy loam including bare fallow (BF), arable rotation, ley–arable rotation, and permanent grass. Results showed that long-term manure application increased SOC content in each site, but it had little effect on the soil WSIs, hysteresis, and SSA in silty clay soils. The changes of soil WSIs, hysteresis, and SSA in silt loam and sandy loam arising from manure application largely depend on the crops grown in the field. For the long-term cropping systems experiments, permanent grass had the most significant effect in increasing SOC content, soil WSIs in silt loam and sandy loam, and hysteresis and SSA in silt loam compared to other treatments. Compared to BF, arable rotation and ley-arable rotation had no effect on SOC and soil WSIs in silt loam, and on hysteresis and SSA in silt loam and sandy loam. Multiple linear regression models including SOC, clay, and silt contents sufficiently explained the variabilities observed in the soil WSIs, hysteresis, and SSA for both manure and cropping systems LTEs.

Measuring public preferences for government spending under constraints: a conjoint-analytic approach

ABSTRACT Governmental budgets and the priorities they reflect are the subjects of recurring political debate. Research on political representation commonly focuses on relative spending preferences, mostly in isolated domains that are unconstrained, and so provides only limited information about people’s preferences. Recent survey work considers the effects of asking about absolute spending levels in different substantive areas and in the face of revenue constraints. No studies do all three, though two studies get close and provide more fine-grained measures of preferences for spending change. We follow their lead but in a more general way, offering budget profiles that include increases as well as decreases in spending levels, embedded in a conjoint experiment in Sweden. Our results reveal that people appear to hold preferences on specific magnitudes of spending change, budgetary constraints matter, and the effects of increases and decreases in spending are not symmetrical. Although the implied preferences for spending are similar in direction to expressed relative preferences that are unconstrained, the levels of support across domains are different. The findings have implications for assessments of opinion representation, as inferences about the responsiveness of policy to preferences – and the congruence between them – differ depending on measurement of the latter.

Do Customer Ratings Influence Consumers Who Have Already Experienced a Product?

This study investigates whether the subjective experiences of consumers are altered by exposure to others’ ratings of the same experience. On the basis of theories of memory reconstruction and conformity, the authors conducted two experiments in Sweden and found that consumers’ quality perceptions, ratings, and customer satisfaction were, indeed, affected by the postexperience viewing of others’ ratings, in two different product categories. The findings reflect a desire to maintain a correct representation of reality in which people use others’ ratings as an accuracy heuristic.

Optimizing height measurement for the long-term forest experiments in Sweden

Information on tree height is useful for volume estimation and site productivity assessment and as such, remains one of the most important variables often measured in forest inventories. Measuring a sufficient number of sample trees requires considerable sampling effort and cost. In this study, we developed height functions for optimizing tree height measurement in the Swedish long-term forest experiments (LTFEs). Two large datasets from the LTFE databases: fitting data (from thinning, fertilisation and mixed species experiments) and validation data (tree species and spacing experiments) collected over several decades were used. The fitting and validation data comprise 133,788 and 68,440 observations, respectively, each covering a large range of growth and environmental conditions across Sweden. A multilevel nonlinear mixed-effects modelling approach was used to build the generalised height functions for Scots pine, Norway spruce, birch (Silver and Downy birch united), other conifers and other broadleaves, considering variations in heights and other stand characteristics at sample plot-level and revision-level. The response calibration of the functions was first carried out with all measured heights of the validation data, and second, using heights of one to six sample trees obtained from different tree selection strategies (diameter extremes, largest diameters, and smallest diameters). The mixed-effects height functions explained most of the height variations in the fitting dataset (pseudo R2: 0.938 – 0.970; RMSE: 0.957 – 1.363 m) without any residual trends. The validation showed that the functions accounted for 95 – 98 % of the height variation in the validation dataset, with RMSE ranging between 0.770 and 1.040 m, confirming the functions’ high accuracy. We recommend the measurement of four sample tree heights based on diameter extremes as the ideal threshold for response calibration. These functions and the suggested sampling technique would reduce sampling effort and inventory cost of height measurements for subsequent inventories of the LTFEs.

The Domestic Impact of International Shaming: Evidence from Climate Change and Human Rights.

Do international shaming efforts affect citizens’ support for government policies? While it is a frequent claim in the literature that shaming works through domestic politics, we know little about how and when international criticism affects domestic public opinion. We address this question through an originally designed survey experiment in Sweden, which (i) compares the effects of international shaming in two issue areas—human rights and climate change, and (ii) tests whether government responses to criticism moderate the impact of shaming. Our main findings are fourfold. First, we find substantial effects of international shaming on domestic public opinion. These effects hold across both issue areas and irrespective of whether citizens support government parties or not. Second, human rights shaming has a stronger impact on citizens’ support for government policies than climate shaming. Third, shaming is most effective among citizens who are more supportive of climate action, human rights, and international cooperation. Finally, our findings are mixed with respect to the effect of government responses. While government responses do not moderate the effects of human rights shaming, they seem to mitigate the effects of climate shaming.

Regional aspects of immigration‐related changes in political preferences

AbstractThis paper investigates how right‐wing populist voting following the 2015 refugee wave was affected by regional characteristics, using data from a quasi‐natural experiment in Sweden. The results suggest that voting outcomes are heavily dependent on pre‐influx municipal characteristics. In localities with strong anti‐immigration sentiments during the 1990s refugee wave, as well as in areas with high crime rates before the refugee wave, there is a positive relationship between immigration rates and anti‐immigration voting. However, the immigration‐related increase in the nationalist vote is significantly smaller in depopulation areas. These polarizing effects on voting are exacerbated when considering immigration of young males.

Expert guidance for environmental compensation is consistent with public preferences – Evidence from a choice experiment in Sweden

Public acceptance of environmental compensation (offsetting) as a mechanism to address negative human impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services is critical. Given that “in-kind/on-site” compensation is rarely possible, proposals must address trade-offs with respect to design. We measure Swedish citizens’ support for compensation and analyze preferences for design attributes based on a choice experiment in which respondents choose between various compensation alternatives to address the hypothetical loss of green space due to urban development. We find citizens’ support for compensation is high, but the activity causing the damage affects acceptance. Our model suggests that several design attributes affect choice but size of the compensation area was valued highest, both in relative and absolute terms. Further, our results suggest that compensation should be primarily focused on creating or improving biodiversity and nature values in order to be in line with public preferences. Additionally, choice depends on interactions between attributes: a larger compensation site matters more when it is relatively further away; and the importance of size and distance from damage depends on whether compensation type focuses on nature or recreational values. Observable characteristics such as a respondent’s age, income and education affect compensation design preferences, but perceptions and previous experiences have the largest effect on choice. Our findings suggest that public preferences are consistent with many of the general recommendations found in guidance documents, but local context may argue for alternative priorities with respect to certain species, habitats, and/or the wellbeing of certain groups. To engender broad support, compensatory offsets will need to balance scientific rigor with transparent involvement of the public.

Short-term experimental support for bird diversity retention measures during thinning in European boreal forests

Current levels of forestry expansion in boreal forests threaten to radically reduce biodiversity. For many forest-dwelling species the threat is not simply because the forest is used for biomass production, but rather how it is used. Retention forestry practices aim to limit impacts on biodiversity during the final felling stage of a forestry cycle. However, the efficiency of such methods in retaining biodiversity have rarely been studied for intermediate forestry stages (e.g., forest thinning) with experimental approaches entirely absent from boreal forests. Therefore, we conducted a before-after control-impact experiment in Sweden to investigate the short-term response in occurrence of individual bird species, guilds, and population trend groups (positive, stable, or negative population trend), as well as the response in nest box occupancy and in the reproductive success of Parus major to three different thinning treatments. The three treatments were i) conventional thinning at the plot and stand scale, (ii) understory retention thinning, where at least 250 spruces with live branches below 2 m above ground are retained per hectare, and (iii) complete retention plots, where the forest was not thinned on ∼1 ha plots within conventionally thinned forest stands. We found that conventional forest thinning was likely the cause for observed declines in bird occurrence, with ∼20% of the species showing clear negative responses. Our results indicate that understory retention thinning with double the retention level as previously suggested and combining conventional thinning with complete retention plots, could largely alleviate the short term negative effects of conventional thinning. This was the case for all guilds, population trend groups and individual bird species, except for Poecile montanus, which responded negatively to complete retention. Among the birds occupying the nest boxes, only Cyanistes caeruleus responded to any of the treatments, with higher nest box occupancy upon understory retention thinning. No thinning treatment affected reproductive success in P. major. Our results clearly show that thinning practices that retain the diversity of forest-dwelling birds are possible. Hence, this study provides a crucial puzzle piece towards more sustainable forestry practices in the boreal region.

Drivers’ and cyclists’ safety perceptions in overtaking maneuvers

Drivers overtaking cyclists on rural roads are a safety concern, as drivers need to handle the interaction with the cyclist and possibly an oncoming vehicle. Improving the maneuver’s outcome requires an understanding of not only the objective, measurable safety metrics, but also the subjective, perceived safety of each road user. Previous research has shown that the perceived safety of the cyclist is most at risk at the passing moment, when driver and cyclist are closest to each other. However, to develop safety measures, it is necessary to know how both road users perceive safety, by understanding the factors that influence their perceptions during the overtaking maneuver. This study measured the perceived safety of drivers in a test-track experiment in Sweden and the perceived safety of cyclists in a field test in Spain. For both drivers and cyclists, we developed Bayesian ordinal logistic regression models of perceived safety scores that take as input objective safety metrics representing the different crash risks at the passing moment. Our results show that while drivers’ perceived safety decreases when there is an oncoming vehicle with a low time-to-collision, cyclists’ perceived safety is reduced by a small lateral clearance and a high overtaking speed. Although our datasets are heterogeneous and limited, our results are in line with previous research. In addition, the Bayesian models presented in this paper are novel and may be improved in future studies once more naturalistic data become available. We discuss how our models may support infrastructure development and regulation, policymaking, driver coaching, the development of active safety systems, and automated driving by providing a possible method for predicting perceived safety.

Physics reach of the ESSnuSB experiment

ESSnuSB is a unique future proposed long-baseline experiment in Sweden to study neutrino oscillation by probing the second oscillation maximum. In this proceeding, we update the flux and efficiencies and re-calculate the sensitivity of ESSnuSB in the standard three flavour scenario. We find that it has excellent sensitivity to the Dirac CP phase δCP, moderate sensitivity to the mass hierarchy of the neutrinos and limited sensitivity to measure the octant of the atmospheric mixing angle θ 23. We also find that it has a very good sensitivity to constrain the atmospheric mass squared difference .

Ethnic Background and the Value of Self‐Employment Experience: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment*

AbstractWe use a randomized field experiment in Sweden to investigate how self‐employment experience is valued in the labour market. Our results show that self‐employment experience negatively impacts the likelihood of receiving a positive response from employers. For male applicants, this holds regardless of ethnic background, and independently of whether we consider applicants with experience solely from self‐employment, or applicants with combined experience from wage employment and self‐employment. For female applicants, the results are less clear‐cut. Our findings provide input into the discussion about the impact of self‐employment on the chances for individuals with different ethnic background to obtain wage employment.

Does voluntary auditing help ventures? Evidence from Sweden

ABSTRACT Auditing in ventures may provide the necessary financial reporting bulwark, however, auditing also has direct and indirect costs that may be less efficacious in a venture with limited routines and capabilities, and could take an entrepreneur’s attention away from venture goals. We draw on a quasi-natural experiment in Sweden, where from 2011 small private firms meeting threshold criteria were exempt from audit. The law resulted in three groups of ventures – (i) those who were above the threshold criteria and continued with an audit, and among those who were exempt some chose to (ii) voluntarily audit or (iii) opted-out of the audit. Starting with ventures established in 2007 (about three years before the passage of the law), and drawing records of the Swedish Companies Registration Office, our results show that while opting out of audit slightly improves the odds of survival, it has detrimental effects when sales volatility or return on assets are high. Those voluntary auditing can realize a higher debt ratio, but also face a decline in sales and net profit. The findings have implications for entrepreneurs in particular and policymakers considering initiation or repealing of audit requirements for ventures.

Do schools discriminate against children with disabilities? A field experiment in Sweden

ABSTRACT This article presents the results of a field experiment in which fictitious parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) sent inquiries to schools in Sweden about admission of their children to the mandatory preschool class. Results show that inquiries concerning a child with no medical condition were more likely to receive an invitation for a visit and more likely to receive a promising placement response than inquiries concerning a child with ADHD and T1DM. Discrimination was more prominent in the private sector and when the child was a boy or had ADHD.