Work in progress
"Permanent residency policy and skilled immigration: Evidence from a Swedish reform" with Akib Khan (UU).
Abstract: Aging populations and labor shortages in skill-intensive sectors have led many countries to pursue targeted policies to attract international talent. We study a migration reform in Sweden that offered international doctoral students from outside the EU an easier path to permanent residency. Implemented in 2014, the reform shortened the required period of residence from eight to four years, allowed these students to obtain permanent residency immediately after graduation, and granted their spouses a work permit during their doctoral studies. Using the European students as a comparison group in a difference-in-differences design, we find that the treated international students are 13.5 pp (23%) more likely to stay in Sweden three years after graduation. Higher settlement prospects also increase their language investments and marriage rates during the PhD. These effects are larger for cohorts that have longer exposure to the reform and for those who carry out their doctoral research in STEM. In addition, the reform raises both employment and language investments among the partners of the treated international students. Taken together, the policy increases permanent residency among international graduates as well as leads them and their families to make long-term choices conducive to integration.
Draft available upon request
"Does Education Foster Civic-Minded Citizens? Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Reforms" with Daniel Almen (IBF, UU), Mikael Elinder (UU), Per Engström (UU), Oscar Erixson (IBF, UU), and Mårten Palme (SU)
Abstract: Throughout history, a common belief among prominent thinkers is that education is key in fostering good citizens. In this paper, we exploit education reforms in Sweden, and other EU countries, to estimate causal effects of a longer and modernized compulsory education. In most countries, the compulsory education was extended with 1-2 years and the curricula reformed to emphasize that the compulsory education should aim at developing democratic, socially responsible, and tolerant citizens. We make use of high quality population-wide register data from Sweden and survey data for other EU countries on: electoral participation, charitable giving, blood donations, and tolerance. Strikingly, we find no positive effects on any of the outcomes. In general, we have precisely estimated zero effects, and can rule out rather small positive effects. These results suggests that many European post WWII compulsory education reforms were not successful in fostering more civic-minded citizens.
"Impact of Teacher’s Formal Education on Student Achievement"
Early stage project
"Age at crime, punishment, and human capital investments: Evidence from the removal of penalty discounts for young criminals in Sweden" with Daniel Cunha Byström (Gothenburg U) and Akib Khan (UU)
Early stage project - Data collection ongoing