Embedded Files
Rapports
"How do opening hours affect revenue in the nightlife industry? "
SIRUS Rapport med Hans Olav Melberg
English summary: Report for the Norwegian Drug and Alcohol Research Unit (SIRUS now FHI).
Norwegian municipalities can set their own bar opening hours within the national maximum allowed limit of 3:00 a.m. This study estimates the effect of bar opening hours on bar revenue by using municipal variations in bar revenue and opening hours between 2000 and 2010. Based on data from 220 firms in the industry, we find that a one-hour reduction in opening times was associated with between 9 and 12 percent reduction in revenues for pubs and bars. The results were statistically significant for bar revenue, but less so for average per capita turnover in the industry in a sample of municipalities.
Commentary in professional journals
"Should Norway’s Climate Policy Facilitate the Reindustrialization of Western Democracies?"
Commentary Samfunnsøkonomen: a Norwegian professional journal that disseminates economic research and current policy analysis in the field of economics.
Abstract: Strict environmental regulations in Western countries have successfully raised energy costs in order to reduce global CO₂ emissions. An important, yet partly unintended, consequence of this policy is that it also undermines the competitiveness of Western industry. Because regulatory standards and enforcement are significantly stricter in the West than among many trading partners, Western firms face systematically higher production costs.
A decade ago, it was widely assumed that the offshoring of industrial jobs from the West would promote democratization in recipient countries and, in turn, increase demand for Western services and goods. These expectations rested on the close relationship between democracy and free markets: open markets were seen as a necessary condition for offshoring to generate the anticipated rise in demand for Western products. In today’s geopolitical climate—marked by rising great-power rivalry, eroded trust, and increasing fragmentation—these optimistic assumptions appear increasingly unrealistic.
Western democracies have accumulated massive trade deficits, and a growing number of observers now highlight the long-term negative economic, social, and strategic consequences of deindustrialization. A genuine policy alternative to the current approach, which effectively encourages reduced energy use through higher taxation and stricter regulation, is to actively facilitate the reshoring of industrial production to Western democracies.
By maintaining a strong industrial base at home, Western countries can work systematically with private actors to develop technologies that are commercially attractive for others to adopt, thereby reducing global CO₂ emissions more effectively. In addition to funding research and development, this can be achieved through targeted tax cuts and trade agreements designed to bring manufacturing back. Even if such a policy results in somewhat higher product prices, it can be viewed as an indirect form of redistribution to the working class—not through government transfers, but through increased demand for Western labor and improved wages.
"Vri skatt fra arbeid til arv."
Debattinnlegg i Minerva med Runar Bjørkvik Mæland, 20.04.2021
English summary: Opinion piece on inheritance tax in the Norwegian right-wing periodical Minerva.
Norway currently has no tax on inheritance while having a progressive income tax. This opinion piece argues that from a libertarian perspective, such as Nozick or Dworkin, this is unfair. We argue that this libertarian view is in line with people's notions of fairness observed in economic experiments. We argue in favor of a tax scheme with low inheritance tax on large estates and no tax on estates under 10 million NOK. The increase in the state's tax revenues from the tax should be offset by reductions in wage taxes to avoid growth in the Norwegian public sector and to make the proposal distribution neutral.
Popular press
"Hvordan påvirker redusert skjenketid omsetningen i utelivsbransjen? "
SIRUS Rapport med Hans Olav Melberg
English summary: Report for the Norwegian Drug and Alcohol research unit (SIRUS).
Norwegian municipalities can set their own bar opening hours within the national maximum allowed limit of 3:00 am. This study estimates the effect of bar opening hours on bar revenue by using municipal variations in bar revenue and opening hours between 2000 and 2010. Based on data from 220 firms in the industry, we find that a one-hour reduction in opening times was associated with between 9 and 12 percent reduction in revenues for pubs and bars. The results were statistically significant for bar revenue, but less so for average per capita turnover in the industry in a sample of municipalities.
Innlegg i Dagens Næringsliv, 30.03.22
"Et "politisk økonomi-perspektiv" kan hjelpe oss å løse flokene på strømmarkedet."
Innlegg i Dagens Næringsliv, 10.04.22
English summary: Two Opinion pieces. One suggests a new market mechanism for the Norwegian electricity market and one explains the political economy reasoning behind the mechanism.
Both are published in Norway`s third-largest newspaper, Dagens Næringsliv.
Norwegian electricity production is mainly hydroelectric with low production cost. Norway has a substantial net yearly export of electricity and interconnections with the European grid come with potential large efficiency benefits by enabling smoothing of daily consumption variation. Under the current market system, interconnection also drives up domestic prices. This reduces the political support for these projects. An additional factor putting pressure on the present market design is the Norwegian state's ambition to increase its electricity production from sources like wind and gas. As these sources have production prices above the production cost of hydroelectric, this new production is reliant on further interconnection with the European power grid to be profitable. A separation of the domestic and export markets is a possible solution giving Norwegian policymakers the ability to pursue both goals of lowering domestic prices while increasing electricity production from higher-cost sources. The newspaper piece proposes a novel market design for hydroelectric producers in Norway to archive these goals and points to some factors determining the policy's desirability.
"JD Vance på riktig side av historien" iNyheter 21. April 2025
The article discusses JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference in relation to Ben Shapiro’s book The Right Side of History. The article argues that the success of Western civilization is built on the balance between freedom of belief and objective truth. It supports JD Vance’s message and places his speech within a broader historical context.
"Er det god klimapolitikk å kutte i lønnsom oljeproduksjon?"Debattinnlegg i Nationen 30.09.21, med Knut Olav Alhaug
"Inntekter fra olje og gass kan brukes til å utvikle miljøvennlig teknologi" i Nordlys
26.10.2021
English summary: Opinion pieces arguing that Norway should keep extracting oil and natural gas and use the surplus for the development of new climate-friendly technology.
"Handel og samarbeid trenger ikke bety overføring av politisk makt"
Debattinlegg i Bergens Tidene med Reidar Digarness
English summary: Opinion piece arguing that trade and cooperation do not need to imply a transfer of political power. The article goes on to argue that Norway should develop a modern and open economy outside of the EU.
Outreach talks
"Why the west got rich and the Middle East did not; The historical relationship between Political and economic legitimacy"
1:30 Minutes talk for FAKS, Conservative Students Union of Tromsø 14. March on economic history based on Professor Jared Rubin's book by the same name.
Google Sites
Report abuse