Anton Sundberg defends his doctoral thesis "Essays in Labor Economics: Parenthood, Immigration, and Education"

The thesis, which consists of four articles, focuses on various dimensions of differences in labour market and educational outcomes with respect to gender and immigration status.

The first chapter shows significant differences in the impact of family formation on labour market outcomes for women and men, although such differences decreased significantly from the 1960s to the 1980s. Results also shows that, since the 1980s, men's labour income is also negatively affected by having children, especially for men in more equal relationships and for men who have sons compared to men who have daughters.

The second chapter focuses on the labour market effects of family formation for women with an immigrant background. The chapter shows some differences in the impact of family formation on women's labour market outcomes based on parents' country of origin. Overall, the outcomes are however strikingly similar across groups.

The third chapter examines how exposure to newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers affects the academic performance of Swedish-born students in Sweden. The chapter shows that there is a small but statistically significant positive effect on Swedish-born students' performance from exposure to new arrivals. A closer analysis of the more acute refugee crisis in 2015 also confirms the main result.

The fourth chapter shows that taxi drivers that are foreign-born earn more than Swedish-born. The use of housing benefit, unemployment benefit and income support decreased, especially for foreign-born people. Those born abroad are more likely to remain in the taxi profession several years after obtaining a taxi driver’s licence than those born in Sweden.

Opponent: Associate Professor Anna Raute, Queen Mary University.

Grading committee:
Associate Professor Lina Aldén, University Centre for Discrimination and Integration Studies, Linnaeus University

Associate Professor Emma von Essen, Department of Sociology, Uppsala University
Professor Peter Fredriksson, Department of Economics, Uppsala University

Supervisors:
Professor Olof Åslund, Department of Economics, Uppsala University
Assistant Professor Mounir Karadja, Department of Economics, Uppsala University