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The aim of this paper is to shed light on the economic and epidemiological trade-offs that emerge when choosing between different vaccination strategies. For that purpose we employ a setting with three age groups that differ with respect to their fatality rates. The model also accounts for heterogeneity in the transmission rates between and within these age groups. We compare the results for two different contact patterns, in terms of the total number of deceased, the total number of infected, the peak infection rate and the economic gains from different vaccination strategies. We find that fatalities are minimized by first vaccinating the elderly, except when vaccination is slow and the general transmission rate is relatively low. In this case deaths are minimized by first vaccinating the group that is mainly responsible for spreading of the virus. With regard to the other outcome variables it is best to vaccinate the group that drives the pandemic first. A trade-off may therefore emerge between reducing fatalities on the one hand and lowering the number of infected as well as maximizing the economic gains from vaccinations on the other hand.

Clusters in the developing world do, to a large extent, attract low-educated individuals, and these clusters are in some cases, characterized by urbanization without industrialization. This contrasts starkly to clusters in advanced economies that attract high-skilled individuals and entrepreneurs. In this paper, we develop a model of agglomeration and spatial sorting that is consistent with these two types of different agglomeration processes in developed and developing countries. We show that a poor country that has an agglomeration with low skilled individuals, may get stuck in this equilibrium, but that free mobility of human capital from the outset nevertheless is superior from the perspective of total social welfare.

Globalization and robotics (globotics) are jointly transforming the world economy at an explosive pace. While much of the literature has focused on rich nations, the changes are quite likely to affect developing nations in important ways. The premise of the paper - which should be regarded as a thought-piece - is based on an extreme thought experiment. What does development look like when digital technology has rendered manufacturing jobless and many services freely traded? Our conclusion is that the service-led development path may become the norm rather than the exception; think India, not China. Since success in the service sector is based on quite different factors than success in manufacturing, development strategies and mindsets may have to change. This is an optimistic conclusion since it suggests that developing nations can directly export the source of their comparative advantage - low-cost labour - without having first to make goods with that labour.

In this paper we study how trade liberalization affects the location and the product scope of firms. We find that the largest and most productive multi-product firms concentrate to the larger market as a result of trade liberalization. In the presence of relocation costs, we also find that these firms will expand their product scope in the larger market while firms in the smaller market will contract their product scope or expand it to a smaller degree. The adjustment of firms’ product scope can therefore be a substitute for firm relocation, and the cost of introducing new varieties becomes an important parameter, that influences the degree of agglomeration.

Shared Reading er en lesepraksis hvor folk, uansett alder og utdanning, kan komme sammen rundt skjønnlitteratur og skape mening. For første gang kommer en samlet framstilling av forskning på metoden i de skandinaviske landene. Denne antologien gir et mangefasettert bilde av Shared Reading som litteraturformidling, estetisk opplevelse og fellesskapsarena innenfor tre kontekster: mental helse, medborgerskap og (ut-)dannelse. Boka gir innsikt i metodens beskaffenheter, hvordan man kan bli en god leseleder og hvordan man kan bruke Shared Reading i ulike sammenhenger med barn, ungdom og voksne, og hva denne praksisen gjør med og for deltakerne. De ulike bidragene kaster lys over betydningen av tekstvalg, høytlesing og samtaler i ulike sosiale rom, og den danner et utgangspunkt for videre forskning på og utviklingen av lesepraksiser. Bidragsyterne er både utøvende leseledere og litteraturforskere. Antologien er blitt til gjennom et samarbeid mellom seks lese- og litteraturforskere i Danmark, Norge og Sverige. Alle arbeider også praktisk med Shared Reading, og har vært involverte i utviklingen av Shared Reading i de respektive land.

Shared Reading er en lesepraksis hvor folk, uansett alder og utdanning, kan komme sammen rundt skjønnlitteratur og skape mening. For første gang kommer en samlet framstilling av forskning på metoden i de skandinaviske landene. Denne antologien gir et mangefasettert bilde av Shared Reading som litteraturformidling, estetisk opplevelse og fellesskapsarena innenfor tre kontekster: mental helse, medborgerskap og (ut-)dannelse. Boka gir innsikt i metodens beskaffenheter, hvordan man kan bli en god leseleder og hvordan man kan bruke Shared Reading i ulike sammenhenger med barn, ungdom og voksne, og hva denne praksisen gjør med og for deltakerne. De ulike bidragene kaster lys over betydningen av tekstvalg, høytlesing og samtaler i ulike sosiale rom, og den danner et utgangspunkt for videre forskning på og utviklingen av lesepraksiser. Bidragsyterne er både utøvende leseledere og litteraturforskere. Antologien er blitt til gjennom et samarbeid mellom seks lese- og litteraturforskere i Danmark, Norge og Sverige. Alle arbeider også praktisk med Shared Reading, og har vært involverte i utviklingen av Shared Reading i de respektive land.

Shared Reading er en lesepraksis hvor folk, uansett alder og utdanning, kan komme sammen rundt skjønnlitteratur og skape mening. For første gang kommer en samlet framstilling av forskning på metoden i de skandinaviske landene. Denne antologien gir et mangefasettert bilde av Shared Reading som litteraturformidling, estetisk opplevelse og fellesskapsarena innenfor tre kontekster: mental helse, medborgerskap og (ut-)dannelse. Boka gir innsikt i metodens beskaffenheter, hvordan man kan bli en god leseleder og hvordan man kan bruke Shared Reading i ulike sammenhenger med barn, ungdom og voksne, og hva denne praksisen gjør med og for deltakerne. De ulike bidragene kaster lys over betydningen av tekstvalg, høytlesing og samtaler i ulike sosiale rom, og den danner et utgangspunkt for videre forskning på og utviklingen av lesepraksiser. Bidragsyterne er både utøvende leseledere og litteraturforskere. Antologien er blitt til gjennom et samarbeid mellom seks lese- og litteraturforskere i Danmark, Norge og Sverige. Alle arbeider også praktisk med Shared Reading, og har vært involverte i utviklingen av Shared Reading i de respektive land.

Shared Reading er en lesepraksis hvor folk, uansett alder og utdanning, kan komme sammen rundt skjønnlitteratur og skape mening. For første gang kommer en samlet framstilling av forskning på metoden i de skandinaviske landene. Denne antologien gir et mangefasettert bilde av Shared Reading som litteraturformidling, estetisk opplevelse og fellesskapsarena innenfor tre kontekster: mental helse, medborgerskap og (ut-)dannelse. Boka gir innsikt i metodens beskaffenheter, hvordan man kan bli en god leseleder og hvordan man kan bruke Shared Reading i ulike sammenhenger med barn, ungdom og voksne, og hva denne praksisen gjør med og for deltakerne. De ulike bidragene kaster lys over betydningen av tekstvalg, høytlesing og samtaler i ulike sosiale rom, og den danner et utgangspunkt for videre forskning på og utviklingen av lesepraksiser. Bidragsyterne er både utøvende leseledere og litteraturforskere. Antologien er blitt til gjennom et samarbeid mellom seks lese- og litteraturforskere i Danmark, Norge og Sverige. Alle arbeider også praktisk med Shared Reading, og har vært involverte i utviklingen av Shared Reading i de respektive land.

This paper models the current pandemic to analyze vaccination strategies in a setting with three age groups that differ with respect to their fatality rates. The model also accounts for heterogeneity in the transmission rates between and within these age groups. We compare the outcomes in terms of the total number of deceased, the total number of infected, the peak infection rate and the economic consequences. We find that fatalities are almost always minimized by first vaccinating the elderly, except when vaccination is slow and the general transmission rate is relatively low. In this case deaths are minimized by first vaccinating the middle-aged as this group is responsible for substantial spreading of the virus to the elderly. With regard to the other outcome variables it is always best to vaccinate the middle-aged group first. A trade-off may therefore emerge between reducing fatalities on the one hand and lowering the number of infected as well as maximizing the economic gains from vaccinations on the other hand.

Control over borders and access to the common market were key issues in the Brexit negotiations concerning the UK's future relationship with the European Union (EU). The parties have expressed strong political commitments regarding both issues. We explore a sequential model, which allows us to analyze the effects of these commitments. It is assumed that the UK controls labor mobility, and that the EU can constrain trade to dissuade future secession, or to punish the UK. We find that the EU has an incentive to claim trade and mobility to be inseparable freedoms whether that reflects its true preferences or not. Our model also implies that both parties are better off if the UK commits to a mobility policy first. Moreover, UK contributions to the EU budget can substitute for trade restriction and allow for a more efficient outcome. Finally, while the EU lacks bargaining power without a readiness to impose trade restrictions, a stronger will to punish the UK does not affect mobility but harms trade. Hence, fueling resentment about Brexit does not benefit the EU.

This paper analyzes the epidemiological and economic effects of quarantines. We use a basic epidemiological model, a SEIR-model, that is calibrated to roughly resemble the COVID-19 pandemic, and we assume that individuals that become infected or are isolated on average lose a share of their productivity. An early quarantine postpones but does not alter the course of the pandemic at a cost that increases in the duration and the extent of the quarantine. For quarantines at later stages of the pandemic there is a trade-off between lowering the peak level of infectious people on the one hand and minimizing fatalities and economic losses on the other hand. A longer quarantine dampens the peak level of infectious people and also reduces the total number of infected persons but increases economic losses. Both the peak level of infectious individuals and the total share of the population that will have been infected are U-shaped in relation to the share of the population in quarantine, while economic costs increase in this share. In particular, a quarantine covering a moderate share of the population leads to a lower peak, fewer deaths and lower economic costs, but it implies that the peak of the pandemic occurs earlier.

This paper develops a simple model of spatial sorting where the least productive entrepreneurs are drawn to the large core region. This is an unusual feature. The literature on spatial sorting typically shows how the most productive individuals and firms agglomerate to the core. However, our model is consistent with empirical evidence that reveals that large agglomerations also attract the low skilled.

The purpose of this study is to test for the effects of trade promotion via the foreign service. The theory of trade with heterogeneous firms predicts that unilateral trade promotion allows medium-sized firms to export. We investigate the effects of trade promotion using firm-level data and information on the opening and closing of embassies abroad from the very similar neighboring countries Sweden and Norway. We use a difference-in-difference specification where firms from Norway are used as a control group for Swedish firms. Our results show that large firms as well as medium-sized firms respond to the opening of embassies.

Background: The incidence of oral cancer is increasing and it is effecting younger individuals. PAP smear-based screening, visual, and automated, have been used for decades, to successfully decrease the incidence of cervical cancer. Can similar methods be used for oral cancer screening? We have carried out a pilot study using neural networks for classifying cells, both from cervical cancer and oral cancer patients. The results which were reported from a technical point of view at the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision Workshop (ICCVW), were particularly interesting for the oral cancer cases, and we are currently collecting and analyzing samples from more patients. Methods: Samples were collected with a brush in the oral cavity and smeared on glass slides, stained, and prepared, according to standard PAP procedures. Images from the slides were digitized with a 0.35 micron pixel size, using focus stacks with 15 levels 0.4 micron apart. Between 245 and 2,123 cell nuclei were manually selected for analysis for each of 14 datasets, usually 2 datasets for each of the 6 cases, in total around 15,000 cells. A small region was cropped around each nucleus, and the best 2 adjacent focus layers in each direction were automatically found, thus creating images of 100x100x5 pixels. Nuclei were chosen with an aim to select well preserved free-lying cells, with no effort to specifically select diagnostic cells. We therefore had no ground truth on the cellular level, only on the patient level. Subsets of these images were used for training 2 sets of neural networks, created according to the ResNet and VGG architectures described in literature, to distinguish between cells from healthy persons, and those with precancerous lesions. The datasets were augmented through mirroring and 90 degrees rotations. The resulting networks were used to classify subsets of cells from different persons, than those in the training sets. This was repeated for a total of 5 folds. Result

This paper proposes a detailed mechanism for why exporting firms may have a lower emission intensity when emissions are subject to an environmental tax. This mechanism of our model is supported by Swedish firm-level data. Our mechanism runs through firms' endogenous investments in abatement. Firms' abatement investments depend on their production volumes, since a larger scale allows them to spread the fixed costs of abatement investment across more units. Production volumes increase in firm productivity and, as a consequence, firms' emission intensity is negatively related to firm productivity. Exporting also leads to higher production volumes and thereby to a lower emission intensity. Thus, trade has an effect on emissions independently of firm productivity. Trade therefore leads to higher but cleaner production. The overall effect of trade on emissions is neutral in our model. Trade liberalization does not affect aggregate emissions in our benchmark case of symmetric countries.

This paper uses a monopolistic competitive framework to study the impact of trade liberalization on local and global emissions. We focus on the interplay of asymmetric emission taxes and the home market effect and show how a large-market advantage can counterbalance a high emission tax, so that trade liberalization leads firms to move to the large high-tax economy. Global emissions decrease when trade is liberalized in this case. We then simulate the model with endogenous taxes. The larger country, which has the advantage of the home market effect, will be able to set a higher Nash emission tax than its smaller trade partner yet still maintain its manufacturing base. As a result, a pollution haven will typically not arise in this case as trade is liberalized. However, global emissions increase as a result of international tax competition, which underscores the importance of international cooperation as trade becomes freer.

Discovering cancer at an early stage is an effective way to increase the chance of survival. However, since most screening processes are done manually it is time inefficient and thus costly. One way of automizing the screening process could be to classify cells using Convolutional Neural Networks. Convolutional Neural Networks have been proven to produce high accuracy for image classification tasks. This thesis investigates if Convolutional Neural Networks can be used as a tool to detect cellular changes due to malignancy in the oral cavity and uterine cervix. Two datasets containing oral cells and two datasets containing cervical cells were used. The cells were divided into normal and abnormal cells for a binary classification. The performance was evaluated for two different network architectures, ResNet and VGG. For the oral datasets the accuracy varied between 78-82% correctly classified cells depending on the dataset and network. For the cervical datasets the accuracy varied between 84-86% correctly classified cells depending on the dataset and network. These results indicates a high potential for classifying abnormalities for oral and cervical cells. ResNet was shown to be the preferable network, with a higher accuracy and a smaller standard deviation.

Litteraturen intar en central plats i kulturen och samhället. Den är ständigt föremål för värdering och bedömning av olika individer, institutioner och andra aktörer på det litterära fältet. I "Litterära värdepraktiker. Aktörer, rum, platser" tar sig fem litteraturforskare an den utmanande uppgiften att beskriva och förstå den komplexa värderingsprocess som omger litteraturen. Genom konkreta fallstudier av Bokmässan i Göteborg, ett antal bokhandlar i Malmö och Lund, en grupp storläsande kvinnor samt Umeå stads novellpris, ger "Litterära värdepraktiker" en mångfacetterad bild av hur olika aktörer både skapar och upprätthåller litteraturens värden."Litterära värdepraktiker" är den andra större studien inom ramen för det av Riksbankens Jubileumsfond finansierade projektet "Att förhandla litterärt värde". Den första studien, "Höstens böcker. Litterära värdeförhandlingar 2013", utkom 2015 och följde värdeförhandlingsprocessen kring tjugo skönlitterära verk utgivna hösten 2013. Författarna är forskare i litteraturvetenskap vid Lunds universitet, Göteborgs universitet och Linnéuniversitetet.

Discovering cancer at an early stage is an effective way to increase the chance of survival. However, since most screening processes are done manually it is time inefficient and thus costly. One way of automizing the screening process could be to classify cells using Convolutional Neural Networks. Convolutional Neural Networks have been proven to produce high accuracy for image classification tasks. This thesis investigates if Convolutional Neural Networks can be used as a tool to detect cellular changes due to malignancy in the oral cavity and uterine cervix. Two datasets containing oral cells and two datasets containing cervical cells were used. The cells were divided into normal and abnormal cells for a binary classification. The performance was evaluated for two different network architectures, ResNet and VGG. For the oral datasets the accuracy varied between 78-82% correctly classified cells depending on the dataset and network. For the cervical datasets the accuracy varied between 84-86% correctly classified cells depending on the dataset and network. These results indicates a high potential for classifying abnormalities for oral and cervical cells. ResNet was shown to be the preferable network, with a higher accuracy and a smaller standard deviation.

Fem litteraturvetare reder ut hur böcker får sitt värde på dagens komplexa bokmarknad, mellan bästsäljarnas lastpallar, läsecirklarnas gemenskaper och de litterära prisernas hierarkier. Här finns också en sakkunnig analys av bokmässan i Göteborg, som ger en bra bakgrund till de senaste årens intensiva debatt och till beskedet nyligen, att mässan säger nej till Nya Tider som utställare 2018., Att förhandla litterärt värde