Do firms’ investments in digital technologies leave a footprint in their growth aspirations? We employ a unique survey of more than 4,000 firms in Sweden to investigate whether firms that invest in software development are more likely to aspire to grow. There is a positive relationship between software development and growth aspirations, and firms that develop software are particularly more likely to aspire to grow through internationalization, i.e. expanding on new markets within as well as outside the European Union. Even after controlling for innovation, the result shows that for a wide array of firms, software development has become an essential input in the pursuit of growth and internationalization.

Rapporten Göteborg borgar för tillväxt undersöker om Sveriges ekonomiska centrum håller på att förskjutas västerut till Göteborgsregionen.

Syftet med denna rapport är att studera betydelsen av unga växande företag i Sverige underperioden 2003 till 2022. Vi studerar relationen mellan tillväxt i antal anställda och företagensålder och storlek med hjälp av registerdata över svenska privata aktiebolag. Mer specifiktbesvarar vi följande frågeställningar: Vilken betydelse har de unga företagen för jobbtillväxten i Sverige? Hur har nyföretagande och unga snabbväxande företag utvecklats över tid? Bör politiken fokusera på att stimulera framväxt av nya företag i Sverige och vilkareformer är effektiva för att utveckla ett dynamiskt näringsliv i Sverige med fler ungaväxande företag?

This contribution corrects cost data from our previously published version in which the 6-month cost data was not censored at baseline and 6-month survey dates. Consequently, the average costs for persons with mild cognitive impairment (PwMCI) and their informal caregivers include costs that occurred outside the initial 6-month period for both intervention and control groups. In this erratum, we have repeated the analysis after appropriately censoring the costs. The results led to numerical differences. However, as both the intervention and control groups have been treated exactly the same, the differences between groups remain insignificant and the general interpretation of the results stand as presented in the original publication. The interpretation of the results in terms of cost-effectiveness has changed for informal caregivers, shifting from "dominant" to "not cost-effective", and for dyads, shifting from "less costly and less effective" to "more costly and less effective". Consequently, ICER and CEAC curves have also changed (see Corrected Fig. 1). However, these changes did not affect the conclusion of the article. 

I samhällsdebatten har frågor som rör integration och konsekvenser av segregation blivit alltmer framträdande. Ökad boendesegregation och negativ utveckling i områden med socioekonomiska utmaningar medför konsekvenser för både individer och samhället som helhet. I denna ESO-rapport analyseras hur egenskaper i grannskapet där personer med utländsk bakgrund växer upp samvarierar med olika utfall senare i livet. Rapporten bidrar till bättre kunskap om grannskapets betydelse för integrationen och segregationens utveckling i Sverige. 

The 2024 editorial update of The Annals of Regional Science reaffirms the journal’s dedication to transparency and scholarly excellence in the field of regional science. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the journal has demonstrated resilience and continued to serve as a pivotal platform for scholarly discourse. This update highlights the journal’s recent milestones, including changes to the editorial board with new members bringing fresh perspectives to drive the journal’s mission forward. The editorial discusses the journal’s performance, encompassing its impact factor and the diverse range of topics covered, emphasizing its role in advancing research aligned with Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 8. The ARSC continues to evolve, embracing changes that reflect current trends and maintaining its influence in the academic community. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024.

Denna rapport presenterar dels en översikt över vad modern forskning inom urban och regional ekonomi och ekonomisk geografi säger kring städers och stora stadsregioners betydelse i ekonomin. Ett särskilt fokus riktas mot vad forskningen säger om utvecklingen framåt för stadsregioner som Stockholmsregionen i ljuset av pandemin (Covid-19), teknikutveckling, automatisering och andra globala trender. Rapporten analyserar  också Stockholmsregionens ekonomiska utveckling över tid och relaterar utvecklingen  i Stockholmsregionen till de trender och mönster pekas ut i internationell forskning. 

This paper analyzes city system dynamics, based on a theoretical framework relating interaction potentials to agglomeration economies and density externalities. It employs new historical time series data on population size of cities in Sweden over two centuries (1810-2010) and introduces two schematic growth factors: (i) the intra-city potential and (ii) the extra-city potential located in in rings encircling each city. The first factor is measured by each city's population size, while the second is a vector of distance-discounted population size for each of a city's urban rings. In this way, we can explain a city's growth as a function of its interaction potential inside the city, as well as inside the first, second hand third ring. A robust finding is that cities with large ring potentials follow different development paths than those with small ring potentials. We also find clear evidence of structural change between the two centuries 1810-1910 and 1910-2010. In the first period, city growth is positively impacted by the size of the intra-city potential, whereas the same potential dampens or reduces the growth in the second period. Moreover, the ring potentials outside the city tend to switch from having negative growth stimulation in the first period to having positive stimulation in the second period.

Software is at the core of digitalisation and is often claimed to play a central role in innovation and in shaping competition across industries and firms. There are yet few studies of the extent and nature of software development across firms. We employ a unique firm-level survey comprising 3,929 firms across Sweden to analyse the distribution and characteristics of firms that invest in software development and the orientation of their investments. The results confirm that software development activities are present in most industries, but heterogeneously distributed across firms. Internal software development is associated with innovation-oriented large firms in high-tech and knowledge-intensive industries, and is often affiliated with MNEs. The results suggest that software development is comparable to R&D investments and constitutes an example of digital innovation. This strengthens the value of studying software development activities to understand how firms invest in and build competitive advantage in the digitalised economy. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.