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Studies of urban segregation have paid little attention to when immigrants arrive, whereas research on age at arrival has rarely considered segregation as an outcome. This study bridges these two literatures. Exploiting variation in age at arrival between siblings, we causally show that immigrants who arrive at younger ages are more likely to live in less segregated neighborhoods as adults, with the effect being particularly pronounced among refugees. A descriptive decomposition suggests that economic factors account for a larger share of the relationship among non-refugees, whereas for refugees, intermarriage and economic factors contribute roughly equally to explaining the variation in the effect of age at immigration.

Place-based policies that allocate resources to specific areas inadvertently also designate these areas as needing assistance, potentially leading to the development of neighborhood stigma. The common coupling of resource allocation and area designation makes it difficult to measure the stigma effect. However, the Swedish police’s listing of “vulnerable” neighborhoods, initially introduced in 2015, lacked accompanying resources, offering a unique opportunity to examine the isolated impact of place-based policies on stigma. We study the stigma associated with unfavorable area labels through an analysis of how police listings affect housing prices — a reliable measure of location value. Employing the synthetic control method, we find that the list resulted in an average price decrease of 3.6% within one year and 6.5% within six years in the designated neighborhoods. In line with ideas of racial stigma, we also find that areas with a higher proportion of minority residents prior to classification experienced more pronounced negative effects.

Vi undersöker långsiktiga effekter av en tidig och intensiv arbetsmarknadsinsats riktad till nyanlända flyktingar med kort formell utbildning. Resultaten visar att effekterna av insatsen håller i sig över tid. Behandlingsgruppen hade 10–20 procentenheter högre sysselsättning under flera år efter att insatsen avslutats och det är först mot slutet av vår uppföljningshorisont som jämförelsegruppen kommer ifatt. Effekterna är särskilt tydliga för männen, även om det finns tendenser till effekter även för kvinnor. Vi finner också att insatsen hade positiva effekter på nyanlända flyktingars språkkunskaper på kort sikt och att dessa förbättrade språkfärdigheter verkar ha betydelse för sysselsättningseffekterna på lång sikt.

We examine how workers adjust in response to an unexpected job loss. Using the closure of military bases in Sweden, we find that displaced workers experience permanent income losses and immediately adjust along two main channels: regional and sector mobility. Displaced military workers are more likely to move to another municipality, start commuting, and change sectors. We also find that workers with mobility restrictions are less likely to change regions and they exhibit lower earnings in the longer run, a result that might help to explain some of the permanent income losses found in the literature.

An Analysis of the Geographic Income Inequality in Sweden 1991–2017 This article studies the income polarisation between urban and rural areas in Sweden and how this polarisation has changed between 1991 and 2017. Using indi-vidual-level data covering the entire population over the entire period, we find that income differences are mainly driven by differences between municipalities with varying degrees of urbanisation rather than differences between urban and rural areas within municipalities. Rural municipalities have lower incomes than the more urban municipalities, and the income gap has increased over time. A higher degree of urbanisation in the municipality is associated with higher incomes and better income development in both the more urban parts of the municipality and its rural areas. When we compare the income development between urban and rural areas within municipalities, we find that while income levels were indeed lower in rural areas in 1991, the entire gap had been closed by 2017. The findings suggest that studies about the urban-rural cleavage lines are geography-sensitive, and that equalising policies should aim for differences between regions and municipalities rather than differences within municipalities.

This study uses a randomized controlled trial to evaluate a new program for increased labor market integration of refugees. The new program starts shortly after the residence permit is granted and uses three main components: early and intensive language training, work practice with supervisors, and job search assistance performed by professional caseworkers. The immediate and intensive assistance contrasts previous integration policies which typically constitute low-intensive help over long periods of time. We find large positive effects on employment of the program, with magnitudes corresponding to around 15 percentage points. A mediation analysis shows that 7–8 percent of the impact of the program seems to be explained by increases in documented language skills. Cost estimates suggest that the new policy is less expensive than earlier labor market programs.

This article studies the political economy of local politicians’ residential neighborhoods. We use Swedish data on the location of all politicians’ and citizens’ homes and their socioeconomic traits. A descriptive analysis shows that politicians live in neighborhoods with more socioeconomically advantaged residents and more of their own party’s voters. Next, we analyze whether having politicians in a neighborhood reduces the likelihood that new buildings are placed there, since these projects often generate local opposition. This analysis compares the neighborhoods of politicians with different degrees of political power and is restricted to close elections. We find that the presence of more politicians with governing power reduces the neighborhood’s proportion of new approved building permits for multifamily homes but not for single-family homes. The result is most likely explained by undue favoritism. We conclude that spatial political representation matters and that unequal spatial representation can increase geographic economic inequality.

Sedan hösten 2015 har polisen publicerat en serie rapporter som listar ett sextiotal bostadsområden i Sverige som "utsatta". Dessa listor har fått stort genomslag såväl i media som i den politiska debatten. I denna artikel presenterar vi resultat som ger stöd åt hypotesen att polisens beslut att peka ut "utsatta områden" har påverkat uppfattningen om de utpekade områdena. Vi påvisar en negativ effekt på bostadspriserna av att bli upptagen på polisens lista, både på kort och längre sikt (inom sex år), vilket vi tolkar som en minskad efterfråga på att bo i dessa områden.