Sven Oskarsson
Professor at Department of Government, Uppsala University
"The effects of having peers whose parents are politicians."
Abstract: We estimate the causal effect of having classmates during upper secondary school whose parents are politicians on individual political participation as an adult. In this paper we measure political participation as voting in the European parliament election in 2009, voting in the general election in 2010, ever being nominated to political office, and lastly as ever being elected to political office. We use unique register data material from Sweden to link individuals to their parents. We estimate an arguably causal effect by comparing individuals who were enrolled in the same upper secondary school and educational program but at different times with one another. Since students spend most of their time with other students of the same age, we argue that the number of politicians among their parents across different cohorts at the same school and program should be as if random. Our results indicate that both voter turnout and the probability of running for political office increase if the number of politicians among the parents of classmates increases. Moreover, we also find that these effects are conditional on the individuals' nascent propensity to be politically active such that social ties to politicians lead to an increase in political equality for mass political acts (voter turnout) and an increase in political inequality for elite acts (running for and winning political office).
"Big brother sees you, but does he rule you?"
Abstract: While recent research finds strong evidence that birth order affects outcomes such as education, IQ scores, personality traits, earnings, and health, the evidence for effects on political outcomes is more limited. Based on population-wide data from Sweden, within-family estimates show that firstborns are significantly more likely to vote, stand for and be elected to political office. In addition, we test a number of potential mechanisms mediating the relationship between birth order and political participation. Disconfirming our expectations, the birth order effects do not seem to be mediated by socioeconomic status, cognitive ability or leadership skills. We also show that the birth order effects are unrelated to birth cohort but decrease with age. Our results suggest that big brother not only sees us; to a certain extent he also rules us.
"Of Genes and Screens: Educational Reforms, Ability, and Labor Market Screening."
Abstract: We study the heterogeneous effects of a Swedish educational reform that increased compulsory schooling from seven to nine years. Specifically, we examine how the reform differentially affected labor market outcomes for individuals with different ability levels, as measured by genetic endowments. Recent breakthroughs in genetics (Okbay et al., 2016) permit the construction of an index of genetic markers, or a “polygenic score” that credibly and robustly predicts educational attainment. We argue that this polygenic score represents a meaningful measure of labor market ability. The gradual rollout of the Swedish reform generates quasi-experimental variation that can be combined with individual data to estimate interactions between genetic ability and exposure to the reform. We find evidence of significant interactions between genetic ability and the reform for females’ educational outcomes and earnings. Specifically, higher ability females were more likely to obtain a high school degree, which is beyond the new minimum established by the reform. This is consistent with a model in which employers screen workers based on their educational credentials, and higher ability females have an incentive to acquire more education to better signal their ability after the reform.