We study the relative survival of foreign-and domestically owned companies in Denmark over more t... more We study the relative survival of foreign-and domestically owned companies in Denmark over more than a century (1895-2005). Contrary to previous studies that have emphasized the liability of foreignness, we find evidence of a significant survival premium for foreign-owned companies; however, the premium declines over time and disappears entirely in the last decade leading up to 2005. Further evidence indicates that the foreign survival premium is negatively influenced by new foreign entry, and that the long-run decline is caused by increasing competition between foreign subsidiaries.
This paper presents a model for analysing the incubation period of highly infectious diseases in ... more This paper presents a model for analysing the incubation period of highly infectious diseases in populations where almost all susceptibles become infected during an epidemic. The model leads to a simple method for estimating the variance of the duration of the incubation period without any distributional assumptions. Further, the influence of covariates on the duration of the incubation period can be analysed. Data from the epidemic of measles in Greenland in 1951 are analysed and it is found that intersymptom times are correlated within households, suggesting that secondary cases are infected almost simultaneously. This result is inconsistent with a variation in the times of infection of secondary cases within a household which is often assumed when analysing data on measles. Prophylactic treatment did not prevent infection in the epidemic in Greenland, but it is found that the incubation period tended to be shorter for persons not receiving prophylactic treatment.
European Journal of Law and Economics, Mar 12, 2015
Several European countries have mandatory employee representation on company boards, but the cons... more Several European countries have mandatory employee representation on company boards, but the consequences for corporate governance are debated. We use employee representation rules in the otherwise quite similar Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) to elicit information on shareholder preferences for employee representation and board size. We find that shareholders choose board structures that minimize the proportion of employee representatives. In Denmark and Norway employee representation depends on board size, and shareholder choose board sizes that minimize the number of employee representatives. However, many companies have more employee representatives than is mandatory. In Sweden, where the law mandates a fixed number of employee representatives (2 or 3 depending on firm size), shareholders choose to have larger boards. In Finland, where employee representation is not mandatory, less than one percent of companies choose to have it. Whatever, the merits of employee representation, shareholders appear to be mildly averse to it.
Pseudothalamic Syndrome With Conduction Aphasia Pseudothalamic Syndrome With Conduction Aphasia T... more Pseudothalamic Syndrome With Conduction Aphasia Pseudothalamic Syndrome With Conduction Aphasia To the Editor.\p=m-\Thesyndrome of right pseudothalamic hemisensory distur-bance (Foix-Chavany-L\l=e'\vysyndrome1) with conduction aphasia as reported by Hyman and ...
A statistical analysis is presented of atmospheric aerosol element composition data collected at ... more A statistical analysis is presented of atmospheric aerosol element composition data collected at five monitoring stations in Copenhagen in 1983. The objective is to identify soucccs of air pollution, to estimate the variation of total suspended particles (TSP) for the different sources and to calculate the annual average source contribution to TSP. The basis for analysis is the chemical mass balance equations. Factor analysis methods are used to identify major sources of pollution and the contribution from each of the sources to the variation in TSP is estimated by an additional multiple regression. Finally, the influence of serial correlations between daily clement contributions is discussed and it is stressed that the result of the analysis is not seriously affected by these correlations.
Stature measurements on large samples of unselected 22-year-old Danish males from the period 1852... more Stature measurements on large samples of unselected 22-year-old Danish males from the period 1852-56 are analysed. Data are given for 18 rural counties and the City of Copenhagen. The distribution of stature deviates significantly and systematically from Normality in all counties. A mixture of two Normal distributions with equal variances describes the empirical distribution of stature in the 18 rural counties and explains important aspects of the distribution of stature in the City of Copenhagen. This mixed structure of the population is accomplished by a factor reducing the mean stature of a fraction of the population by nearly 20 cm. The factor generating this mixed population is probably genetic and inbreeding may play a major part in raising the frequency of affected persons to the observed values, 0.2-2%. The mean stature of the majority of the population and the mixing proportion show significant geographical variation. The frequency of the small subpopulation is generally highest in the least-developed main province, Jutland, and lower on the islands, particularly in and around the City of Copenhagen. On the Zealand group of islands the mean stature of the majority of the population is highest in the most developed area, whereas the reverse occurs in Jutland.
The relationship between air pollution and the daily number of contacts (i.e., telephone calls an... more The relationship between air pollution and the daily number of contacts (i.e., telephone calls and home visits) with or at Copenhagen Emergency Medical Service for children with and without respiratory illnesses was studied during a 91-d period (i.e., January 14, 1991, to April 14, 1991). A total of 12,132 contacts occurred. Diagnoses, which were recorded on the invoices for 5,307 contacts, revealed that 3,974 contacts were the result of respiratory illnesses. Regression analysis was used to investigate the short-term relationship between pollutants (i.e., carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, NOx, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and black smoke), measured at monitoring stations, and both the number of all contacts for children and the number of contacts for children with respiratory illnesses. Temperature and systematic effects that were the result of holidays and weekends were controlled for, after which only nitric oxide and NOx were associated significantly with the number of contacts for children who had respiratory illnesses. Nitric oxide and NOx, as indicators of traffic pollution, appeared, at low levels, to slightly exacerbate respiratory illnesses among children.
Does foreign ownership enhance or decrease a firm's chances of survival? Over the 100 year period... more Does foreign ownership enhance or decrease a firm's chances of survival? Over the 100 year period 1895-2001 this paper compares the survival of foreign subsidiaries in Denmark to a control sample matched by industry and firm size. We find that foreign-owned companies have a higher survival probability. On average exit risk for domestic companies is 2.3 times higher than for foreign companies. First movers like Siemens, Philips, Kodak, Ford, GM or Goodyear have been active in the country for almost a century. Relative foreign survival increases with company age. However, the foreign survival advantage appears to be eroded by globalization, it decreases over time and disappears at the end of the century.
Absence due to illness among children in 24 daycare centres in Copenhagen was registered during t... more Absence due to illness among children in 24 daycare centres in Copenhagen was registered during two periods of one year each with a five year interval. The results from the first period have been reported earlier. In each period, the physical, environmental, hygienic and social conditions of the institutions were assessed, and the playroom area per child was registered. The total number of children increased from 855 in the first period to 921 in the second because 13 of the 24 institutions had increased their capacity in the intervening period. On average, the playroom area per child decreased with 0.27 square metre per child in the 13 institutions with an increased number of children. All children were less than three years of age. Absence due to sickness constituted 7.6% of the days during which the institutions were open. For the second period, where the childrens age had been exactly registered, the effect of age on absence due to sickness was found to be statistically significant. The direction of the effect was a decrease in illness with increasing age. However, due to a high correlation between age and time attending the institution, the effect of age could not be separated from the similar effect of length of time that the child had attended the institution. It was found that sickness will decrease with 7.8% per month that the age of the child and time attending the institution is increased. A statistically significant connection was found between the playroom area per child and absence due to sickness after correction for the influence of age in a multivariate analysis. In conclusion, the sickness will decrease with 10.8% per square metre the playroom area per child is increased.
Sick leave among the children in 24 day nurseries in Copenhagen was registered during a period of... more Sick leave among the children in 24 day nurseries in Copenhagen was registered during a period of one year. The physical, environmental and hygienic conditions of the institutions were assessed by means of interviews and inspection, supplemented by information from the local authorities. Sick leave constitutes 7.5% of the days during which the institutions were open and the average number of sick days per child varied from 14.6 to 24.4. Comparisons with similar investigations are inclusive on account of variations in the methods of registration and age distributions. It was characteristic of the institutions investigated that these included a number of old institutions in flats, many in streets with considerable traffic and where the conditions of ventilation and space do not conform with present-day standards. In some of the institutions, the hygiene is unsatisfactory, particularly where ventilation, outdoor activities and hand-washing are concerned. A statistically significant connection was found between amount of traffic at the institution, the hygiene and playroom area per child, on one hand, and absence due to sickness, on the other, as assessed by a statistical model for sick leave for child in a given institution. In order to prevent sickness, it is concluded that efforts to improve hygiene and space are desirable and, similarly, further research concerning the effects of atmospheric pollution is relevant.
A numerical test of identity of hazards in Cox's regression model in the case when the ob... more A numerical test of identity of hazards in Cox's regression model in the case when the observations have been stratified according to some covariate (possibly time-dependent) and the regression coefficient is common to all strata is proposed. The test is applied to analysis of the effect of early exposure to measles.
The known difference in the severity of dystrophy between the masseter and the digastric muscle o... more The known difference in the severity of dystrophy between the masseter and the digastric muscle of the mouse (dy/dy C57BL/J6) may be attributed to the differences in muscle work load. This possibility was tEsted by subjecting 3-week-old mice (normal and dystrophic) to a soft diet for 4 weeks. Microscopic examination of haematoxylin+osin stained sections of these muscles showed that Ihe fibre size dispersion (a measure of disease severity) decreased slightly but significantly in the masseters of mice on a soft diet. It was thus possible to improve the condition of dystrophic masticatory muscles by changing their function. Body weight curves measured during the experimental period suggest that the dystrophic mice may have been under weight because of malnutrition due to lack of sufficient masticatory power.
This paper considers cost allocation in networks where agents are characterized by stochastic dem... more This paper considers cost allocation in networks where agents are characterized by stochastic demand and supply of a non-storable good, e.g. green energy. The grid itself creates possibilities of exchanging energy between agents and we propose to allocate common costs in proportion to the economic gain of being part of the grid. Our model includes a set of fundamental requirements for the associated trading platform. In particular, it is argued that a suitable mechanism deviates from a traditional market. The approach is illustrated by simulations.
This paper deals with methods of measuring and analyzing efficiency in transport industry. The ai... more This paper deals with methods of measuring and analyzing efficiency in transport industry. The aim of the paper is to introduce and demonstrate the advantages of Multi-directional Efficiency Analysis (MEA) in case of cost data with limited substitution possibilities. For this purpose we reconsider the Norwegian bus data that has previously been analyzed using econometric models and Data Envelopment Analysis; Jørgensen, Pedersen and Solvoll (1995), Jørgensen, Pedersen and Volden (1997) and Odeck and Alkadi (2001). It is shown how, using MEA, it becomes possible to disaggregate inefficiency into different components corresponding to different types of cost generating variables and thereby provide both managers of the bus companies and policy makers with more detailed information on possible improvements of performance.
This paper examines Danish elderly care resource utilization among municipalities. The available ... more This paper examines Danish elderly care resource utilization among municipalities. The available production data are aggregated, which means that it is virtually impossible to allocate costs to specific services. We show that Multi-directional Efficiency Analysis (MEA) provides a much more subtle performance picture than Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) because we are able to assess the input specific relative improvement potentials. The empirical results show considerable improvement potential for all inputs. The largest relative potential for improvement is found for administrative staff.
In this paper we examine the possibility of using the standard Kruskal-Wallis rank test in order ... more In this paper we examine the possibility of using the standard Kruskal-Wallis rank test in order to evaluate whether the distribution of efficiency scores resulting from Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is independent of the input (or output) mix. Recently, a general data generating process (DGP) suiting the DEA methodology has been formulated and some asymptotic properties of the DEA estimators have been established. In line with this generally accepted DGP, we formulate a conditional test for the assumption of mix independence. Since the DEA frontier is estimated, many standardl assumptions for evaluating the test statistic are violated. Therefore, we propose to explore its statistical properties by the use of simulation studies. The simulations are performed conditional on the observed input mixes. The method, as shown here, is applicable for models with multiple inputs and one output with constant returns to scale when comparing distributions of efficiency scores in two or more groups. The approach is illustrated in an empirical case of demolition projects where we reject the assumption of mix independence. This means that it is not meaningful to perform a complete ranking of the projects based on their efficiency score. Thus the example illustrates how common practice can be inappropriate.
We study the relative survival of foreign-and domestically owned companies in Denmark over more t... more We study the relative survival of foreign-and domestically owned companies in Denmark over more than a century (1895-2005). Contrary to previous studies that have emphasized the liability of foreignness, we find evidence of a significant survival premium for foreign-owned companies; however, the premium declines over time and disappears entirely in the last decade leading up to 2005. Further evidence indicates that the foreign survival premium is negatively influenced by new foreign entry, and that the long-run decline is caused by increasing competition between foreign subsidiaries.
This paper presents a model for analysing the incubation period of highly infectious diseases in ... more This paper presents a model for analysing the incubation period of highly infectious diseases in populations where almost all susceptibles become infected during an epidemic. The model leads to a simple method for estimating the variance of the duration of the incubation period without any distributional assumptions. Further, the influence of covariates on the duration of the incubation period can be analysed. Data from the epidemic of measles in Greenland in 1951 are analysed and it is found that intersymptom times are correlated within households, suggesting that secondary cases are infected almost simultaneously. This result is inconsistent with a variation in the times of infection of secondary cases within a household which is often assumed when analysing data on measles. Prophylactic treatment did not prevent infection in the epidemic in Greenland, but it is found that the incubation period tended to be shorter for persons not receiving prophylactic treatment.
European Journal of Law and Economics, Mar 12, 2015
Several European countries have mandatory employee representation on company boards, but the cons... more Several European countries have mandatory employee representation on company boards, but the consequences for corporate governance are debated. We use employee representation rules in the otherwise quite similar Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) to elicit information on shareholder preferences for employee representation and board size. We find that shareholders choose board structures that minimize the proportion of employee representatives. In Denmark and Norway employee representation depends on board size, and shareholder choose board sizes that minimize the number of employee representatives. However, many companies have more employee representatives than is mandatory. In Sweden, where the law mandates a fixed number of employee representatives (2 or 3 depending on firm size), shareholders choose to have larger boards. In Finland, where employee representation is not mandatory, less than one percent of companies choose to have it. Whatever, the merits of employee representation, shareholders appear to be mildly averse to it.
Pseudothalamic Syndrome With Conduction Aphasia Pseudothalamic Syndrome With Conduction Aphasia T... more Pseudothalamic Syndrome With Conduction Aphasia Pseudothalamic Syndrome With Conduction Aphasia To the Editor.\p=m-\Thesyndrome of right pseudothalamic hemisensory distur-bance (Foix-Chavany-L\l=e'\vysyndrome1) with conduction aphasia as reported by Hyman and ...
A statistical analysis is presented of atmospheric aerosol element composition data collected at ... more A statistical analysis is presented of atmospheric aerosol element composition data collected at five monitoring stations in Copenhagen in 1983. The objective is to identify soucccs of air pollution, to estimate the variation of total suspended particles (TSP) for the different sources and to calculate the annual average source contribution to TSP. The basis for analysis is the chemical mass balance equations. Factor analysis methods are used to identify major sources of pollution and the contribution from each of the sources to the variation in TSP is estimated by an additional multiple regression. Finally, the influence of serial correlations between daily clement contributions is discussed and it is stressed that the result of the analysis is not seriously affected by these correlations.
Stature measurements on large samples of unselected 22-year-old Danish males from the period 1852... more Stature measurements on large samples of unselected 22-year-old Danish males from the period 1852-56 are analysed. Data are given for 18 rural counties and the City of Copenhagen. The distribution of stature deviates significantly and systematically from Normality in all counties. A mixture of two Normal distributions with equal variances describes the empirical distribution of stature in the 18 rural counties and explains important aspects of the distribution of stature in the City of Copenhagen. This mixed structure of the population is accomplished by a factor reducing the mean stature of a fraction of the population by nearly 20 cm. The factor generating this mixed population is probably genetic and inbreeding may play a major part in raising the frequency of affected persons to the observed values, 0.2-2%. The mean stature of the majority of the population and the mixing proportion show significant geographical variation. The frequency of the small subpopulation is generally highest in the least-developed main province, Jutland, and lower on the islands, particularly in and around the City of Copenhagen. On the Zealand group of islands the mean stature of the majority of the population is highest in the most developed area, whereas the reverse occurs in Jutland.
The relationship between air pollution and the daily number of contacts (i.e., telephone calls an... more The relationship between air pollution and the daily number of contacts (i.e., telephone calls and home visits) with or at Copenhagen Emergency Medical Service for children with and without respiratory illnesses was studied during a 91-d period (i.e., January 14, 1991, to April 14, 1991). A total of 12,132 contacts occurred. Diagnoses, which were recorded on the invoices for 5,307 contacts, revealed that 3,974 contacts were the result of respiratory illnesses. Regression analysis was used to investigate the short-term relationship between pollutants (i.e., carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, NOx, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and black smoke), measured at monitoring stations, and both the number of all contacts for children and the number of contacts for children with respiratory illnesses. Temperature and systematic effects that were the result of holidays and weekends were controlled for, after which only nitric oxide and NOx were associated significantly with the number of contacts for children who had respiratory illnesses. Nitric oxide and NOx, as indicators of traffic pollution, appeared, at low levels, to slightly exacerbate respiratory illnesses among children.
Does foreign ownership enhance or decrease a firm's chances of survival? Over the 100 year period... more Does foreign ownership enhance or decrease a firm's chances of survival? Over the 100 year period 1895-2001 this paper compares the survival of foreign subsidiaries in Denmark to a control sample matched by industry and firm size. We find that foreign-owned companies have a higher survival probability. On average exit risk for domestic companies is 2.3 times higher than for foreign companies. First movers like Siemens, Philips, Kodak, Ford, GM or Goodyear have been active in the country for almost a century. Relative foreign survival increases with company age. However, the foreign survival advantage appears to be eroded by globalization, it decreases over time and disappears at the end of the century.
Absence due to illness among children in 24 daycare centres in Copenhagen was registered during t... more Absence due to illness among children in 24 daycare centres in Copenhagen was registered during two periods of one year each with a five year interval. The results from the first period have been reported earlier. In each period, the physical, environmental, hygienic and social conditions of the institutions were assessed, and the playroom area per child was registered. The total number of children increased from 855 in the first period to 921 in the second because 13 of the 24 institutions had increased their capacity in the intervening period. On average, the playroom area per child decreased with 0.27 square metre per child in the 13 institutions with an increased number of children. All children were less than three years of age. Absence due to sickness constituted 7.6% of the days during which the institutions were open. For the second period, where the childrens age had been exactly registered, the effect of age on absence due to sickness was found to be statistically significant. The direction of the effect was a decrease in illness with increasing age. However, due to a high correlation between age and time attending the institution, the effect of age could not be separated from the similar effect of length of time that the child had attended the institution. It was found that sickness will decrease with 7.8% per month that the age of the child and time attending the institution is increased. A statistically significant connection was found between the playroom area per child and absence due to sickness after correction for the influence of age in a multivariate analysis. In conclusion, the sickness will decrease with 10.8% per square metre the playroom area per child is increased.
Sick leave among the children in 24 day nurseries in Copenhagen was registered during a period of... more Sick leave among the children in 24 day nurseries in Copenhagen was registered during a period of one year. The physical, environmental and hygienic conditions of the institutions were assessed by means of interviews and inspection, supplemented by information from the local authorities. Sick leave constitutes 7.5% of the days during which the institutions were open and the average number of sick days per child varied from 14.6 to 24.4. Comparisons with similar investigations are inclusive on account of variations in the methods of registration and age distributions. It was characteristic of the institutions investigated that these included a number of old institutions in flats, many in streets with considerable traffic and where the conditions of ventilation and space do not conform with present-day standards. In some of the institutions, the hygiene is unsatisfactory, particularly where ventilation, outdoor activities and hand-washing are concerned. A statistically significant connection was found between amount of traffic at the institution, the hygiene and playroom area per child, on one hand, and absence due to sickness, on the other, as assessed by a statistical model for sick leave for child in a given institution. In order to prevent sickness, it is concluded that efforts to improve hygiene and space are desirable and, similarly, further research concerning the effects of atmospheric pollution is relevant.
A numerical test of identity of hazards in Cox's regression model in the case when the ob... more A numerical test of identity of hazards in Cox's regression model in the case when the observations have been stratified according to some covariate (possibly time-dependent) and the regression coefficient is common to all strata is proposed. The test is applied to analysis of the effect of early exposure to measles.
The known difference in the severity of dystrophy between the masseter and the digastric muscle o... more The known difference in the severity of dystrophy between the masseter and the digastric muscle of the mouse (dy/dy C57BL/J6) may be attributed to the differences in muscle work load. This possibility was tEsted by subjecting 3-week-old mice (normal and dystrophic) to a soft diet for 4 weeks. Microscopic examination of haematoxylin+osin stained sections of these muscles showed that Ihe fibre size dispersion (a measure of disease severity) decreased slightly but significantly in the masseters of mice on a soft diet. It was thus possible to improve the condition of dystrophic masticatory muscles by changing their function. Body weight curves measured during the experimental period suggest that the dystrophic mice may have been under weight because of malnutrition due to lack of sufficient masticatory power.
This paper considers cost allocation in networks where agents are characterized by stochastic dem... more This paper considers cost allocation in networks where agents are characterized by stochastic demand and supply of a non-storable good, e.g. green energy. The grid itself creates possibilities of exchanging energy between agents and we propose to allocate common costs in proportion to the economic gain of being part of the grid. Our model includes a set of fundamental requirements for the associated trading platform. In particular, it is argued that a suitable mechanism deviates from a traditional market. The approach is illustrated by simulations.
This paper deals with methods of measuring and analyzing efficiency in transport industry. The ai... more This paper deals with methods of measuring and analyzing efficiency in transport industry. The aim of the paper is to introduce and demonstrate the advantages of Multi-directional Efficiency Analysis (MEA) in case of cost data with limited substitution possibilities. For this purpose we reconsider the Norwegian bus data that has previously been analyzed using econometric models and Data Envelopment Analysis; Jørgensen, Pedersen and Solvoll (1995), Jørgensen, Pedersen and Volden (1997) and Odeck and Alkadi (2001). It is shown how, using MEA, it becomes possible to disaggregate inefficiency into different components corresponding to different types of cost generating variables and thereby provide both managers of the bus companies and policy makers with more detailed information on possible improvements of performance.
This paper examines Danish elderly care resource utilization among municipalities. The available ... more This paper examines Danish elderly care resource utilization among municipalities. The available production data are aggregated, which means that it is virtually impossible to allocate costs to specific services. We show that Multi-directional Efficiency Analysis (MEA) provides a much more subtle performance picture than Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) because we are able to assess the input specific relative improvement potentials. The empirical results show considerable improvement potential for all inputs. The largest relative potential for improvement is found for administrative staff.
In this paper we examine the possibility of using the standard Kruskal-Wallis rank test in order ... more In this paper we examine the possibility of using the standard Kruskal-Wallis rank test in order to evaluate whether the distribution of efficiency scores resulting from Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is independent of the input (or output) mix. Recently, a general data generating process (DGP) suiting the DEA methodology has been formulated and some asymptotic properties of the DEA estimators have been established. In line with this generally accepted DGP, we formulate a conditional test for the assumption of mix independence. Since the DEA frontier is estimated, many standardl assumptions for evaluating the test statistic are violated. Therefore, we propose to explore its statistical properties by the use of simulation studies. The simulations are performed conditional on the observed input mixes. The method, as shown here, is applicable for models with multiple inputs and one output with constant returns to scale when comparing distributions of efficiency scores in two or more groups. The approach is illustrated in an empirical case of demolition projects where we reject the assumption of mix independence. This means that it is not meaningful to perform a complete ranking of the projects based on their efficiency score. Thus the example illustrates how common practice can be inappropriate.
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