Søren Leth-Petersen

Demand for space heating in apartment blocks: measuring effects of policy measures aiming at reducing energy consumption

Abstract Panel data covering the period 1984–1995 on energy consumption and technical characteristics of apartment blocks from Denmark are analysed in order to measure effects of policy measures aimed at reducing the consumption of energy for space heating. Results indicate that building regulations have been important in reducing energy consumption in new buildings. Furthermore, conditional price responses are estimated to be relatively small or non-existent, indicating small short-run effects of fuel taxes on energy consumption in apartment blocks. Finally, a consultancy scheme implemented with the purpose of improving knowledge about the potential for energy savings is found to have had moderate effects.

IMPUTING CONSUMPTION FROM INCOME AND WEALTH INFORMATION

We investigate the feasibility of deriving a measure of total expenditure at the household level from administrative micro-data on income and wealth. We use Danish administrative data that provides measures of disposable income and the holding of different assets at the end of the year. The ability to link the households in the 1994-6 Danish Expenditure Survey to their administrative data for the years around the survey year offers a unique possibility for constructing a measure of total expenditure and of checking directly on the reliability of the imputation. The results are promising. Copyright 2003 Royal Economic Society.

Long-term labour-market performance of whiplash claimants

A whiplash is a sudden acceleration-deceleration of the neck and head, typically associated with a rear-end car collision that may produce injuries in the soft tissue. Often there are no objective signs or symptoms of injury, and diagnosing lasting whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) is difficult, in particular for individuals with mild or moderate injuries. This leaves a scope for compensation-seeking behaviour. The medical literature disagrees on the importance of this explanation. In this paper we trace the long-term earnings of a group of Danish individuals with mild to moderate injuries claiming compensation for having permanently lost earnings capacity and investigate if they return to their full pre-whiplash earnings when the insurance claim has been assessed. We find that about half of the claimants, those not granted compensation, return to an earnings level comparable with their pre-whiplash earnings suggesting that these individuals do not have chronic WAD in the sense that their earnings capacity is reduced. The other half, those granted compensation, experience persistent reductions in earnings relative to the case where they had not been exposed to a whiplash, even when they have a strong financial incentive to not reduce earnings. This suggests that moderate injuries tend to be chronic, and that compensation-seeking behaviour is not the main explanation for this group. We find that claimants with chronic WADs used more health care in the year prior to the whiplash than claimants with non-chronic cases. This suggests that lower initial health capital increases the risk that a whiplash causes persistent WAD.

Estimation of Panel Data Regression Models with Two-Sided Censoring or Truncation

This paper constructs estimators for panel data regression models with individual specific heterogeneity and two-sided censoring and truncation. Following Powell (1986) the estimation strategy is based on moment conditions constructed from re-censored or re-truncated residuals. While these moment conditions do not identify the parameter of interest, they can be used to motivate objective functions that do. We apply one of the estimators to study the effect of a Danish tax reform on household portfolio choice. The idea behind the estimators can also be used in a cross sectional setting.

Estimation of Panel Data Models with Two-Sided Censoring

It is straightforward to construct moment conditions for two-sided censored panel data regression models with strictly exogenous explanatory variables. The contribution of this note is to show that one set of these moment conditions uniquely identify the parameters of the model under a natural full-rank condition.

Do First‐Time House Buyers Receive Financial Transfers from Their Parents?

Using Danish longitudinal data with information about wealth for a sample of first‐time house buyers and their parents, we test whether there are direct financial transfers from parents to children in connection with the house purchase, or in connection with unemployment spells occurring just after the purchase, when children typically hold few liquid assets. First, we document that child and parent financial resources are correlated. Then, we introduce conditioning variables and exploit the panel aspect of the data to also condition on fixed unobserved factors, which arguably govern preferences and/or productivity. We find no evidence of direct financial transfers.

Does Peacetime Military Service Affect Crime

Draft lottery data combined with Danish longitudinal administrative records show that military service can reduce criminal activity for youth offenders who enter service at ages 19-22. For this group property crime is reduced for up to five years from the beginning of service, and the effect is therefore not only a result of incapacitation while enrolled. We find no effect of service on violent crimes. We also find no effect of military service on educational attainment and unemployment, but we find negative effects of service on earnings. These results suggest that military service does not upgrade productive human capital directly, but rather impacts criminal activity through other channels, for example by changing the attitudes to criminal activity for this group.

INCOME AND THE USE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FOR NEAR RETIREMENT INDIVIDUALS

Understanding how demand for prescription drugs responds to changes in income is important for assessing the welfare consequences of reforms affecting income. This becomes more imminent as age progresses, because the use of prescription drugs and the associated budgetary burden increases dramatically from about age 55. In this paper we estimate how demand for prescription drugs varies with income for a sample of near retirement individuals. Estimating the prescription drug demand response to income changes is complicated because an important explanatory variable, the health capital, is unobserved, and because demand is potentially dynamic, for example because some drugs are habitual. The analysis is based on a novel panel data set with information about purchase of prescription drug demand for a very large number of Danish individuals over the period 1995-2003. Our preferred model that takes into account the aforementioned complications performs better in an external validation test than models that can be estimated on cross section data. Results indicate that demand does respond to variations in income and that reforms affecting income therefore will affect the use of prescription drugs.

Financial Trouble Across Generations: Evidence From The Universe Of Personal Loans In Denmark

Do people end up in financial trouble simply because of adverse shocks to income and wealth, or is financial trouble related to persistent differences in financial attitudes and behavior that may be transmitted from generation to generation? We address this question using a new administrative data set with longitudinal information about defaults for the universe of personal loans in Denmark. We provide non-parametric evidence showing that the default propensity is more than four times higher for individuals with parents who are in default compared to individuals with parents not in default. This intergenerational relationship is apparent soon after children move into adulthood and become legally able to borrow. The intergenerational relationship is remarkably stable across age groups, levels of loan balances, parental income levels, childhood school performance, time periods and different measures of financial trouble. Basic theory points to three possible explanations of the correlation across generations in financial trouble: (i) children and parents face common shocks; (ii) children and parents insure each other against adverse shocks; (iii) financial behavior differs across people and is transmitted across generations. Our evidence indicates that the last explanation is the most important. Finally, we show that the intergenerational correlation in financial trouble is not fully incorporated in interest setting on loans, pointing to adverse selection in the market for personal loans.

INCOME AND THE USE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FOR NEAR RETIREMENT INDIVIDUALS: INCOME AND THE USE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

In this paper, we estimate how demand for prescription drugs varies with income for a sample of near retirement individuals. The analysis is based on a novel panel data set with information about the purchase of prescription drugs for a large number of Danish individuals over the period 1995-2003. Our preferred model performs better in an external validation test than models that can be estimated on cross section data. Results indicate that demand does respond to variations in income and that reforms affecting income will therefore affect the use of prescription drugs.