News about Research

In the longer run, effects on R&D and the implementation of advanced abatement technology may be at least as important as short-run cost effectiveness when we evaluate public environmental policy. Halvor Briseid Storrøsten's Discussion Paper shows that the number of firms that adopt advanced abatement technology could be higher with emissions trading than with a tax if there is imperfect competition in the permits market.

A Discussion Paper by Arvid Raknerud and Øivind Skare aims to develop new methods for statistical inference in a class of stochastic volatility models for financial data based on non-Gaussian Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) processes.

The next round of census will be completely register-based in all the Nordic countries. Household is a key statistical unit in this context. In a Discussion Paper Li-Chun Zhang outline a unit-error theory which provides a framework for evaluating the statistical accuracy of these register-based household statistics, and illustrate its use through an application to the Norwegian register household data.

A report by Marte Rønning shows that pupils from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to spend no time on homework than pupils from higher socio-economic backgrounds. The report also shows a positive effect of homework on average. However, not all pupils seem to benefit from homework.

A Discussion Paper by Christian Brinch presents identication results for the mixed proportional hazards model when duration data are interval-censored. Earlier positive results on identication under intervalcensoring require both parametric specication on how covariates enter the hazard functions and assumptions of unbounded support for covariates. New results provided here show how one can dispense with both of these assumptions.

In a new Discussion Paper Annegrete Bruvoll discusses the distinctions between the Pigouvian and the fiscal taxes in light of tax theory. The revenues following the Eurostat et al. statistical basis deviate significantly from the revenues from the environmental taxes defined on the basis of theory. Steps should be taken to harmonize the international statistics of environmental taxes with economic tax theory.

By studying the market effects of green certificates, Torstein Bye and Michael Hoel show that the effect will not be anything like that anticipated, neither for the energy market nor for the climate. They conclude that the certificates are expensive and pointless renewable fun.

The Economy of the North 2008 presents a comprehensive overview of the economy of the circumpolar Arctic, including the traditional production activities of the indigenous people. The report discusses the importance of the Arctic economy from a global perspective, with particular focus on the natural resources in the Arctic region.

Does economic growth and concomitant improvements in living conditions lead to more loneliness and insufficient social integration? In his thesis, Anders Barstad seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of welfare trends in modern society, using Norway as a case.

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