To Örebro University

What are the distributional consequences of migration, and how do they affect attitudes toward migration? In this paper we leverage a natural experiment generated by the ousting of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, which created an unprecedented influx of economic migrants from African countries to Europe. This surge of low-skilled labor benefited low-productivity firms by lowering their production costs and expanding their labor supply. Employing a triple difference-in-differences design, we document that attitudes toward migration became more positive in Western European regions with large shares of migrants and low-productivity firms. Evidence from Sweden, which provides finely grained geographical data, confirms these findings. We then test the economic microfoundations of this attitudinal shift. We show that the surge in the supply of low-skilled labor increased the profitability of low-productivity firms more in areas that experienced larger migration flows. We find no evidence that migration worsened natives’ labor market conditions.

Offshoring continues to be an important dimension of firms' internationalization choices. However, offshoring also increases contract enforcement costs by inhibiting the coordination and monitoring of performance. Immigrant employees may reduce such costs through their specific knowledge of the employer, their country of birth and access to foreign networks. In this paper, we investigate the role of immigrant employees within firms on firm offshoring, employing rich administrative Swedish microlevel data that include specific information about the characteristics of employees, manufacturing firms and their bilateral offshoring. Our results support the hypothesis that immigrant employees increase offshoring by lowering contract enforcement costs. Hiring one additional immigrant employee is linked to a relatively larger increase in offshoring at the intensive than the extensive margin, on average. The association to offshoring is considerably stronger for skilled immigrant employees and for contract and R&D intensive offshoring. Instrumental variable estimations demonstrate qualitatively similar results, while a placebo test with randomized immigrant employment does not generate any link between immigrants and offshoring.

Introduction: Delayed puberty in boys, defined as lack of pubertal onset by the age of 14 years, is often constitutional and self-limited. However, it can lead to feelings of sadness and anxiety. The long-term health consequences of delayed puberty in males are not well understood.

Objective: To study the long-term morbidity in young men exposed to delayed puberty.

Methods: All Swedish men born between 1991 and 1993 who were diagnosed with delayed puberty at the ages of 14.0–17.9 years were identified in nation-wide registries. For each index person, 10 control individuals were randomly selected, matched for sex, year of birth, and county of residence. Swedish nation-wide registries were also used to determine outcomes, including inpatient and outpatient care, prescription of medications, and mortality. The outcomes were tracked annually from the age of 18 until the end of year 2022 (approximately 30 years of age).

Results: 1,245 men with delayed puberty and 12,450 control individuals were identified and included in the study. During the follow-up period, 32% of those with delayed puberty had at least one inpatient care occasion compared to 27% of those without delayed puberty (p < 0.001). Among those with at least one inpa-tient care occasion, men with delayed puberty had more inpatient stays compared to control individuals (median (25–75th percentile) 1 (1–3) vs. 1 (1–2), p = 0.016). A higher proportion of men with delayed puberty had a hospital-based outpatient visit compared to control individuals (90% vs. 86%, p < 0.001). The number of outpatient visits was higher in men with delayed puberty (6 (2–14) vs. 4 (1–10), p < 0.001). In addition, prescriptions of medications were provided more often to men with delayed puberty (16 (6–45) vs. 10 (4–25), p < 0.001). Ten men with delayed puberty and 95 control individuals died during the follow-up (0.80% vs. 0.76%, p = 0.879). Most deaths were due to injuries or intoxications. Among deceased men, those with delayed puberty were older when they died (27.5 years (26–29) vs. 24 years (21–26), p = 0.031).

Conclusion: Delayed puberty in boys is associated with a higher frequency of inpatient stays, outpatient visits, and prescription of medications in young adulthood. This indicates that male delayed puberty is not harmless, and careful follow-up of these patients is needed. Further investigations of the increased need of health care are warranted.

Business angels dominate early-stage investment in firms, but research on their effects on firms is scarce and limited by sample selection. To address sample selection, we propose using population data and we develop an algorithm for identifying business angel investments in such data. We illustrate this novel approach by applying it to detailed and longitudinal total population data for individuals and firms in Sweden. In our application, we focus on a subset of business angels-active business angels who are themselves successful entrepreneurs with a profitable exit. We then study active business angels' effects on firm performance, using population data. Employing a quasi-experimental estimator, we find that the business angels invest in firms that already perform above par. There is also a positive effect on subsequent growth compared with control firms. However, contrary to previous research on business angels, we cannot find any impact on firm survival. Overall, the paper underlines the need to address sample selection when studying business angels and suggests using population data for identification.

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.

We examine if international trade improves labor market integration of immigrants in Sweden. Immigrants participate substantially less than natives in the labor market. However, trading with a foreign country is expected to increase the demand for immigrants from that country. By hiring immigrants, a firm may access foreign knowledge and networks needed to overcome information frictions in trade. Using granular longitudinal matched employer–employee data and an instrumental variable approach, we estimate the causal effects of a firm’s bilateral trade on employment and wages of immigrants from that country. We find a positive, yet heterogeneous, effect of trade on immigrant employment but no effect on immigrant wages.

We use survival analysis to analyse the impact of export credit guarantees on firms’ export duration using granular Swedish panel data at the firm-country and firm-country-product levels. The estimation results show that firms’ export survival substantially increases with guarantees, at both levels. The associations are particu- larly strong for smaller firms and contracts as well as in trade with riskier markets. The findings have implications for policies to promote long-run export growth.

Protectionism and anti-globalization tides have been rising already before the COVID-19 pandemic, with Brexit and the China-U.S. trade war, as two examples. A continued disruption to global trade, investment and value chains could worsen global development. Economic recovery will require restoring firms' ability to trade, offshore and invest globally. To achieve this, it will be useful to understand the role of migration for foreign trade, investment and other aspects of internationalization. In this paper we review and discuss over 100 papers published about migrants' roles on international trade, foreign direct investment and offshoring. Although the evidence suggests that migration facilitates trade and internationalization, we also note substantial gaps and inconsistencies in the existing literature. The aim of this paper is to encourage further research and assist policymakers in their efforts to promote economic recovery including internationalization.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic rise in protectionism and restrictions around the world. This column sheds light on the role migration can play in restoring globalisation in the wake of COVID-19. It draws upon evidence from macro-, sub-national, and micro-level research to demonstrate that migration has the potential to promote economic recovery through facilitating foreign trade, investment, and offshoring. The findings carry implications not only for physical migration, but also for whether or not recent technological advances may enable foreign-based online workers to promote globalisation.