Ratio är ett fristående forskningsinstitut som forskar om företagandets villkor.

08-441 59 00 info@ratio.se

802002-5212

Sveavägen 59 4trp

11359 Stockholm

Bankgiro: 512-6578

Publikationer Evenemang Medarbetare

Populärt

Forskning i korthet

Rapportserie arbetsmarknad

Klimat och miljö

Konkurrenskraft

Detta är Ratio

Verksamhetsberättelse

Stipendium för unga forskare

Sommarassistent på Ratio

Eli F. Heckscher-föreläsning

Vanliga frågor

Integritetspolicy

PublikationWorking paper

Working Paper. No 306: Municipally owned enterprises as danger zones for corruption? How politician’s having feet in two camps may undermine conditions for accountability

Sammanfattning

Market-inspired reforms have been particularly pronounced in Swedish local government. Noteably, municipally owned enterprises (MOEs) have rapidly grown in numbers. Principal-agent theory leads us to suspect that the massive introduction of MOEs may have worsened conditions for accountability. To study this, we have employed social network analysis, mapping networks for 223 MOEs in 11 strategically chosen municipalities, covering a total of 723 politicians. The analysis shows substantial overlaps between principals (representatives of the owners) and agents (the boards of the MOEs), quantified using network modularity. Corporatization of public services therefore implies worrisome entanglings between the politicians who are set to steer, govern and oversee MOEs on the one hand, and the board members of MOEs on the other. The increasing numbers of MOEs, we argue, may hence have adverse effects on accountability in important and growing parts of the local economies.

Bergh, A., Erlingsson, G., Gustafsson, A. & Wittberg, E. (2018). Municipally owned enterprises as danger zones for corruption? How politician’s having feet in two camps may undermine conditions for accountability. Ratio Working Paper No 306. Stockholm:Ratio.

Detaljer

Författare: Abstract: Market-inspired reforms have been particularly pronounced in Swedish local government. Noteably, municipally owned enterprises
Publiceringsår: 2018
Publicerat i: Ratio Working Paper

Liknande innehåll

Artikel (med peer review)

Does local government corruption inhibit entrepreneurship?

Wittberg, E., Erlingsson, G. Ó., Wennberg, K.

Publiceringsår

2024

Publicerat i

Small Business Economics, 62(2), 775-806

Sammanfattning

The dominant ‘sand in the wheels’ view holds that entrepreneurship is strongly inhibited by corruption. Challenging this, the ‘grease the wheels’ view maintains that corruption might increase entrepreneurship in highly regulated economies. We extend the basic predictions of these theories by examining entrepreneurs’ start-up decisions, as well as their location choices, in a seemingly low-corruption environment: Swedish municipalities. Combining a validated index of corruption perceptions in local government with population data on new entrepreneurs, nested logit models reveal that even in a low-corruption setting such as Sweden, perceptions of corruption can deter latent entrepreneurs. We also find that a minority of entrepreneurs relocate from their home municipalities to establish their start-ups elsewhere. Surprisingly and contrary to expectations, these relocating entrepreneurs often relocate from relatively low-corruption municipalities to others that are more corrupt. Implications for future research and public policy are discussed.

Artikel (med peer review)

Subsidy Entrepreneurs: An Inquiry into firms seeking public grants

Halvarsson, D, Gustafsson, A. & Gustavsson Tingvall, P.

Publiceringsår

2020

Publicerat i

Journal of Industry Competition and Trade

Sammanfattning

This paper studies the incentives and characteristics of firms that apply for, and eventually receive, one or multiple governmental grants intended to stimulate innovation and growth. The analysis departs from a contest model in which entrepreneurs are free to allocate their effort between production and seeking grants. The results suggest that highly productive entrepreneurs abstain from seeking grants, moderately productive firms allocate a share of their effort to grant seeking, and low-productivity firms allocate most resources to seeking grants. Due to their efforts in seeking grants, these low-productive subsidy entrepreneurs also have a relatively high probability of receiving the grants. Using comprehensive data over grants from the three largest grant-distributing agencies in Sweden, we find concordant evidence of a negative relation between the probability of receiving a grant and firm productivity. As we go from single- to multiple-grant-supported firms, this negative relation becomes more pronounced.

Artikel (med peer review)

The openness of open innovation in ecosystems

Öberg, C., & Alexander, A.

Publiceringsår

2019

Publicerat i

Journal of Innovation & Knowledge

Sammanfattning

Open innovation has rendered increased interest both in practice and research, and has expanded from dyadic transfers of ideas, to ecosystem levels. Knowledge is at the heart of open innovation, and this paper describes and discusses knowledge-transfer linkages for open innovation. It does so based on a literature review. The paper links together open innovation research with general management research to categorise and discuss linkages among parties in terms of their openness and how they relate to knowledge management. Conclusions indicate that openness needs to be considered in different dimensions that also links to different knowledge management outcomes. The paper’s contribution consists of how it connects open innovation research to the general management literature, and how it builds a practical understanding of how linkages between firms can be categorised to aid firms to consider which mechanisms they may choose and why.