1. Residential mobility patterns of elderly
Abstract
In many western societies the increasing share of elderly is a special concern for the future. One issue in this debate is housing for these elderly. A hypothesis in Sweden is that tomorrow's and today's elderly will increasingly demand an apartment in a central location in exchange for their house in the suburb. This assumption includes the idea that the elderly thereby change tenure form from homeownership to cooperative housing or rental housing. Rental and cooperative housing typically includes more service for residents. There are studies pointing to such a residential mobility trend among seniors but quantitative tests are wanted. We will follow the total cohorts born in the 1920s 1930s and 1940s and their mobility patterns between 2001 and 2006. What characterize the movers and stayers respectively and do the elderly movers compete for the same apartments as young entrants on the housing market do? Especially planning processes are to be informed by such an analysis. In this paper we analyze the residential mobility patterns among pensioners, and pensioners to be, using a register database, Geoswede, comprising the total Swedish population.
Work in progress together with Marianne Abramsson, N I S A L - National Institute for the Study of Ageing and Later, Linköping University, Sweden.
2. Neighborhood Segregation and Educational Outcome in Sweden
Abstract
Since 1992 the school segregation in Swedish schools has increased, both in regard to ethnic and socio-economic background. A possible explanation for this is an increase in residential segregation on the neighborhood level. Another explanation is the introduction of a voucher system, enabling families to opt out from neighborhood schools. In this paper, we analyze the effects of school choice on school segregation; and the effects of increasing school segregation on educational outcome. The paper is based on the PISA study, an extensive cross-country statistical survey offering a possibility to compare and assess the compulsory school systems in the OECD. The material includes a rich variety of variables, depicting pupils' socio-economic background, habitual milieu and quality of school. In addition, a micro database containing the entire population residing in Sweden is used to conceptualize the socioeconomic status of the inhabitants in the neighborhoods surrounding the Swedish schools. By combing the inferences made from the PISA material with the individual data from the micro database, a unique possibility to analyze the interdependence between choice of school, social economic background, neighborhood characteristics and grades evolves.
Eva Andersson, Dr., Uppsala University eva.andersson@ibf.uu.se
Bo Malmberg, Professor, Stockholm University bo.malmberg@humangeo.su.se
John Östh, Dr., Uppsala University john.osth@kultgeog.uu.se
Project financed by FAS.
3. Hunting for hotspots. Unequal urbanisation in the Swedish countryside
Abstract
The dichotomy urban rural has become less obvious. Counterurbanisation has opened up for mobility from urban to rural areas. It is not about large flows of movers. Often it implies a marginal increase in some population groups. Several reasons have been put forward to explain counterurbanisation but there are still no satisfactory explanations. A burning question is the effects of an unbalanced housing market in urban areas. This memorandum proposes a study on counterurbanisation and how it can be understood and explained by a focus on housing market conditions. The approach captures the interdependency among urban and rural housing markets. In that approach hotspot is a central concept. The object is to analyse occurrence of hotspots in the north of Sweden. A hot spot is a place with great natural beauty far away from metropolitan areas. The process is initiated in a place with loss of population, decreasing house prices and suddenly the place is transformed to an attractive hot spot. Are there hotspots in the north of Sweden? Which factors explain this development? Are hotspots long-standing sustainable? To address these questions a longitudinal database and interviews will be used. Important are physical and socioeconomic transformations of places. Tobin’s q will be used for analysis of house prices. The method will be multi level analysis. Results will add knowledge to countryside development at a geographical level where people live there everyday life.
Head of project is Lena Magnusson Turner at IBF. Project financed by Formas, which will start late 2009.
4. Links between ill health and regional economic performance: Evidence from Swedish longitudinal data
Abstract
In this paper we will argue that the relationship between health and income deserves attention not only on the national, but also on the regional level. Contrary to the belief poor health is linked to poor economic performance only in countries with low per capita income, we can show that a similar correlation can be found also in regional data from one of the richest countries in the world. Moreover, we use individual, family, and firm-level data to demonstrate that the correlation between health and regional economic performance can be linked not only to the effects of economic weakness on health, but also to the effects of ill-health on economic performance.
Started as a project funded by the Swedish National Institute of Public Health. Health as a factor in regional economic development. Together with Bo Malmberg, Institute for Future studies.
