Institutional conditions for retail firms

We investigate the institutional conditions for firm growth and development within this research area, with a special focus on the conditions for retailers and firms active in other service industries. Firms within these industries have the potential to create jobs for those groups of employees who have difficulties in establishing themselves in the labor market. The service industries are also becoming increasingly important for overall economic development, which means that there is a need to understand how institutions should be designed to create growth and new jobs among service firms.

We have published a large number of studies within this research area. In one completed project, we have investigated how important retailers are in providing job opportunities for unemployed first-generation non-western immigrants. We have also analysed the consequences of the high minimum wages within the Swedish retail trade industry, the employment effects of reduced pay-roll taxes, and if a staff register requirement can reduce corporate tax evasion.

In our on-going research, we continue to investigate the effects of reduced pay-roll taxes. Now we are interested in how these pay-roll tax cuts affect wages for incumbent workers and the opportunities for first-generation immigrants to establish themselves in the Swedish labor market. We have also started a project where we follow young individuals that get their first job within a retail- or wholesale trade firm over time.