Sindre Lorentzen

Gender Differences in Hope and Its Relevance to Depression Symptoms among Norwegian Adolescents

Introduction: Several studies indicate that the number of individuals experiencing depression symptoms is growing. There is a prevailing consensus in the literature that while depression is represented among both genders, it is consistently reported that females are more exposed to depression compared to males both in frequency and severity. Studies suggest that as many as 15 - 20 percent of adolescents in Norway exhibit depression or depression like symptoms. Furthermore, several studies indicate that the number of individuals experiencing depression symptoms is growing. There is a prevailing consensus in the literature that while depression is represented among both genders, it is consistently reported that females are more exposed to depression compared to males both in frequency and severity. Methods: All data utilized in this study were extracted from the Norwegian Ungdata survey conducted in 2014 among adolescents in Norway. The sample consists of 46,374 observations. Conclusions: The finding of significant differences in prevalence of self-diagnosed depression symptoms among Norwegian adolescents, showed females are more exposed. Furthermore, as hypothesized, there is a strong and significant relation between hope and depression, where hope is proxied through expectations regarding the individuals’ future education, happiness and wealth. Based on these findings, we apply hope as an instrument for addressing depression symptoms. Results from this analysis indicate that males are significantly less optimistic for the future.

Forecastability and Statistical Characteristics of Aggregate Oil and Gas Investments on the Norwegian Continental Shelf

We investigate the potential for statistical forecasting of aggregate oil and gas investment on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). A unique and detailed dataset containing data from 109 different fields on the NCS between 1970 and 2015 was employed. A set of 1080 autoregressive distributed lag models are evaluated pseudo out-of-sample and tested for data mining by utilizing a Diebold-Mariano hypothesis test and the model confidence set procedure by Hansen and Lunde (2011). The main results are as follows. First, we find that it is indeed possible but challenging to outperform the parsimonious random walk benchmark in an out-of-sample environment. Second, lags of investment growth, crude oil price growth and realized volatility is found to be adequate predictors for the investment growth. Finally, there is a clear benefit from re-estimating the models coefficient at every step.

Cost Performance on the Norwegian Continental Shelf

The oil and gas sector plays a crucial role in the Norwegian economy. It accounts for a very large proportion of gross domestic product, government revenues, investment and exports. A sharp fall in oil prices has had a significant impact on the economy and focused great attention on the cost side of the sector. Enhancing cost efficiency and curbing cost overruns now top the agenda. It is not difficult to find examples of projects suffering extensive cost overruns. What factors underlie these overruns? Media coverage might easily give the impression that Norway’s oil and gas sector is suffering from a lack of ability and competence to plan and execute projects to budget. Is this reputation deserved? Does the oil sector perform more poorly in Norway than in other producer nations? Can we see learning effects? How do the Norwegian and the international oil industry compare with other industries with respect to cost performance?