Logo: to the web site of Uppsala University

Could differences in risk attitudes explain parts of the gender wage gap? We present estimates on the association between labor market outcomes and financial risk-taking using individual level administrative data on individual wealth portfolios and wage rates from year 2000, when high-quality wealth data were available in Sweden. The individual's share of risky to total financial assets is significantly and positively associated with the wage rate. However, it turns out that our risk measure explains only a small part of the observed gender difference in wages.

This paper uses administrative data from Sweden to document trends in the labor market returns to skills. Between 1992 and 2013, the economic return to noncognitive skill-a psychologist-assessed measure of teamwork and leadership skill roughly doubled. The return to cognitive skill was relatively stable and decreased modestly during the 2000s, however. Among men with similar levels of education, the return to noncognitive skill is higher than the return to cognitive skill. The increasing return to noncognitive skill is driven by changes at the top of the wage distribution and by sorting into higher-paying occupations.

We examine the changes in the rewards to cognitive and non-cognitive skill during the time period 1992-2013. Using unique administrative data for Sweden, we document a secular increase in the returns to non-cognitive skill. This increase is particularly pronounced in the private sector, at the upper-end of the wage distribution, and relative to the evolution of the return to cognitive skill. Sorting across occupations responded to changes in the returns to skills. Workers with an abundance of non-cognitive skill were increasingly sorted into abstract and non-routine occupations, for example. Such occupations also saw greater increases in the relative return to non-cognitive skill. This suggests that the optimal skill mixes of jobs have changed over time, that there is sorting on comparative advantage, and that demand-side factors are primarily driving the evolution of the return to non-cognitive skill. Consistent with this, we also show that hikes in offshoring and IT-investments increase the relative reward to non-cognitive skill and the relative intensity of non-cognitive skill usage.

INTRODUCTION: Nepal Perinatal Quality Improvement Project (NePeriQIP) intends to scale up a quality improvement (QI) intervention for perinatal care according to WHO/National guidelines in hospitals of Nepal using the existing health system structures. The intervention builds on previous research on the implementation of Helping Babies Breathe-quality improvement cycle in a tertiary healthcare setting in Nepal. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of this scaled-up intervention on perinatal health outcomes.

METHODS/DESIGN: Cluster-randomised controlled trial using a stepped wedged design with 3 months delay between wedges will be conducted in 12 public hospitals with a total annual delivery rate of 60 000. Each wedge will consist of 3 hospitals. Impact will be evaluated on intrapartum-related mortality (primary outcome), overall neonatal mortality and morbidity and health worker's performance on neonatal care (secondary outcomes). A process evaluation and a cost-effectiveness analysis will be performed to understand the functionality of the intervention and to further guide health system investments will also be performed.

DISCUSSION: In contexts where resources are limited, there is a need to find scalable and sustainable implementation strategies for improved care delivery. The proposed study will add to the scarce evidence base on how to scale up interventions within existing health systems. If successful, the NePeriQIP model can provide a replicable solution in similar settings where support and investment from the health system is poor, and national governments have made a global pledge to reduce perinatal mortality.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN30829654.

The paper describes the Swedish wage distribution and how it correlates with worker mobility and plant-specific factors. It is well known that wage inequality has increased in Sweden since the mid-1980s. However, little evidence has so far been available as to whether this development reflects increased dispersion between plants, between individuals in the same plant, or both. We use a new linked employer-employee data set and discover that a trend rise in between- plant wage inequality account for the entire increase in wage dispersion. This pattern, which remains when we control for observable individual human capital characteristics, may reflect increased sorting of workers by skill levels and/or increased scope for rent sharing in local wage negotiations. Our discussion suggests that both factors may have become more important.