Erik Mellander

Title

Ph D in Economics, Deputy Director-General IFAU

Areas of interest

• Education and human capital
• Production Economics
• Labor Demand
• Econometrics

Publications and scientific papers

Articles in refereed journals

• Althin, R, L Behrenz, R Färe, S Grosskopf & E Mellander, "Swedish Employment Offices: A New Model for Evaluating Effectiveness", forthcoming in European Journal of Operational Research.
• Bennmarker H, E Mellander & B Öckert (2009), "Do regional payroll tax reductions boost employment?", Labour Economics, Vol. 16, Issue 5, pp. 480-489.
• Mellander E & S Sandgren Massih (2008) "Proxying Ability by Family Background in Returns to Schooling Estimations is Generally a Bad Idea", Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 110, No. 4. pp. 853-875.
• Mellander E & P Skedinger (1999) “Corporate job ladders in Europe: wage premia for university vs high school level jobs”, Swedish Economic Policy Review, Vol. 6, pp. 449-487
• Kazamaki Ottersten E, T Lindh & E Mellander (1999) ”Evaluating firm training, effects on performance, and labour demand”, Applied Economics Letters, Vol. 6, pp. 431-437
• Mellander E (1992) “An Indirect Approach to Measuring Productivity in Private Services”, Scandinavian Journal of Economics”, Vol. 94 Supplement, pp. 229-244
• Mellander E, A Vredin & A Warne (1992) “Stochastic Trends in a Small Open Economy”, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Vol. 7, pp. 369-394
• Jansson L & E Mellander (1983) “Optimization Under Non-Linear Constraints”, Economics Letters, Vol. 11, pp. 343-346

Other selected publications

• Bennmarker, H, E Mellander & B Öckert (2009), "Är sänkta arbetsgivaravgifter ett effektivt sätt att öka sysselsättningen?" (Is payroll tax cuts an effecient way to increase employment?), Ekonomisk Debatt, No. 1, pp. 5-18.
• Mellander E (2008) "Utbildningsekonomi" (Education Economics), i U P Lundgren (red): Individ - Samhälle - Lärande: Åtta exempel på utbildningsvetenskaplig forskning (Individual - Society - Learning: Eight Examples of Research in Educational Science), Vetenskapsrådets rapportserie 2:2008.
• Mellander E & C Håkanson (2006), "Transparency in human capital policy -- a prerequisite for economic growth" Chapter 5 in L Oxelheim (ed) Corporate and Institutional Transparency for Economic Growth in Europe, Elsevier, Oxford, UK
• Mellander E, E Savvidou & G Gunnarssson (2005), ”Effekter av IT i svensk industri” (Effects of IT in the Swedish Manufacturing Industry), Ekonomisk Debatt, vol 33, nr 1, p 45-57
• Mellander E & C Håkanson (2005) ”Den öppna samordningsmetoden är svag när målen är många” (The Open Method of Coordination is Weak in Contexts with Many Objectives), i S Gustavsson m fl (red) Lissabonstrategin i halvtid – Europaperspektiv (Half-way Assessment of the Lisbon Strategy - A European Perspective), Santerus, Stockholm
• Mellander E (2002) ”Lön och lärande – räcker utbildningspremien?” (Learning and Earning - Is the Wage Premium Sufficiently High?), i K Abrahamsson m fl (red) Utbildning, kompetens och arbete (Education, Competence, and Work), Studentlitteratur, Lund
• Håkanson C, S Johanson & E Mellander (2002) ”Personalutbildning i ett tillväxtpolitiskt och stabiliseringspolitiskt perspektiv” (Training in Growth Policy and Stabilization Policy Perspectives), Bilaga 6 i SOU 2002:16,  Stabiliseringspolitik i valutaunionen
• Johanson S & E Mellander (2001) ”Satsa på personalekonomi för att förbättra arbetsmiljön” (Use Personnel to Enhance the Work Environment), Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv, vol 7, s 201-207
• Mellander E & E Savvidou (2001) “Företagens kunskapsförsörjning och syn på individuella kompetenskonton” (Firms' Supply of Skills and Views on Individual Lerning Accounts), Ekonomisk Debatt, Årg 29, s 333-345.
• Mellander, E & E Savvidou (2000), SOU 2000:197 Företagens syn på individuella kompetenskonton (Firms' views on Indivdual Learning Accounts); Rapport utarbetad på uppdrag av Utredningen om individuellt kompetenssparande (IKS)
• Mellander, E & P Roos (1995) ”Metoder för produktivitetsmätning när kvalitetsaspekter är väsentliga” (Methods for Productivity Measurement when Quality Aspects are Essential), Ekonomisk Debatt, Årg 23, s 549-566
• Mellander E & P Roos (1995) “Några aspekter på produktivitet och kvalitet. Kommentar till Larsson” (Some Productivity and Quality Issues: Comment on Larsson), Ekonomisk Debatt, Årg 23, s 412-421
• Mellander E (1993) Measuring Productivity and Inefficiency Without Quantative Output Data, doctoral dissertation, Economic Studies No 14, Dept of Economics, Uppsala University
• Mellander E & B-C Ysander (1990) ”Analyzing Productivity and Efficiency in the Absence of Output Measures” in H Carlsson & B Larsson (eds) Problems in the Mixed Economy: Cooperation, Efficiency and Stability, North-Holland, Amsterdam

IFAU reports and working papers

• Mellander E och S Sandgren-Massih "Proxying ability by family background in returns to schooling estimations is generally a bad idea", Working paper 2008:22, IFAU
• Bennmarker H, E Mellander and B Öckert " Do regional payroll tax reductions boost employment?", Working Paper 2008:19, IFAU
• G Gunnarsson, E Mellander, E Savvidou "Human capital is the key to the IT productivity paradox", Working paper 2004:13, IFAU
• Gunnarsson G, E Savvidou & E Mellander (2004) “Human capital is the key to the IT productivity paradox”, Working Paper 2004:13, IFAU
• Håkanson C, S Johanson & E Mellander (2003) ”Employer-sponsored training in stabilization and growth policy perspectives”, Working Paper 2003:8, IFAU
• Mellander E (1999) “Varför har efterfrågan fallit på lågutbildad arbetskraft i svensk tillverkningsindustri?”, Rapport 1999:8, IFAU
• Mellander E (1999) ”The Multi-Dimensional Nature of Labor Demand and Skill-Biased Technical Change”, Working Paper 1999:9, IFAU

Referee for journals and books

Applied Economics, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Economics of Education Review, Empirical Economics, European Economic Review, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Journal of Population Economics, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Labour Economics, OECD Economic Studies, Scandinavian Journal of Economics

Current research projects

• Have the reductions in the part-time unemployment insurance resulted in more full-time jobs or more full-time unemployed? (Reg No 105/09)
• Development of competency and regulations – Would employers like to provide more employment-sponsored training? (Reg No 34/09)
• The Lisbon strategy, human capital and educational results (Reg No 10/09)
• Construction of an intergenerational database (Reg no 60/05)
• The Lisbon strategy, human capital, and educational results

Current appointments

• Member of the Committee for Educational Science at the Swedish Research Council
• Chairman of the Swedish Expert Group for OECD's Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)