Erling Barth

• Barth, Erling; Dale-Olsen, Harald; Østbakken, Kjersti Misje & Schøne, Pål (2026). Vil den grønne omstillingen fremme innovasjonsaktiviteten i norske foretak? Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 43(1), p. 21–21. doi: 10.18261/spa.43.1.2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Norsk økonomi er i en grønn omstilling. I en omskiftelig verden er det viktig for norske foretak å være innovative. I denne studien stiller vi spørsmålet om foretak som sysselsetter en høy andel personer i grønne yrker, er mer innovative enn andre foretak. Vi besvarer det ved hjelp av populasjonsdekkende administrative registerdata for perioden 2003–2020 koplet til Digitalisering, organisering og teknologi 2020, en storskala-spørreundersøkelse om digitalisering og innovasjonsaktiviteter i privat sektor. Basert på flere yrkesindekser for grønnhet og forurensning viser vi at andelen sysselsatt i grønne yrker øker svakt, mens andelen sysselsatt i klart forurensende yrker avtar noe i perioden. Når vi studerer foretakenes innovasjonsaktiviteter, finner vi at foretak med fremvoksende grønne yrker er klart mer innovative enn andre foretak, både når det gjelder produktinnovasjoner, når det gjelder prosessinnovasjoner, og når det gjelder teknologiske innovasjoner. Foretak med forurensende yrker er derimot klart mindre innovative. Alt i alt viser dette at den grønne omstillingen henger sammen med økt innovasjonsaktivitet i norske foretak.

• Barth, Erling; Røed, Marianne; Schøne, Pål & Umblijs, Janis (2026). Robotene kommer – hvordan omstilles industrien? Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 43(1), p. 21–21. doi: 10.18261/spa.43.1.4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Vi analyserer hvordan robotteknologien påvirker omstillingsprosesser i norsk industri. Mer spesifikt undersøker vi utviklingen i industriforetak før og etter at foretakene tar roboter i bruk. Analysene er basert på norske registerdata og blir gjennomført i to trinn: først en analyse av seleksjonen inn i robotisering, dernest en undersøkelse av hvordan investeringen påvirker utviklingen de første fem årene etter at den er gjennomført. Vi finner en sterk positiv sammenheng mellom sannsynligheten for å investere i robotteknologi og foretakenes størrelse. Etter robotiseringen blir sysselsettingsveksten lavere enn for kontrollgruppen. Det samme gjelder verdiskapningen. Den robotiserte omstillingen går dermed i retning av at veksten i store foretak flater ut eller uteblir, både med hensyn til antall ansatte og når det gjelder nivået på verdiskapningen. Det er de mest produktive foretakene som robotiserer, men når det tas hensyn til at de som investerer i roboter, har en vesentlig høyere kunnskapskapital enn andre, er foretak som robotiserer, i utgangspunktet mindre produktive enn dem som ikke gjør det.

• Barth, Erling; Bryson, Alex & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2025). Creative disruption: technology innovations during unexpected turmoil. Economica. doi: 10.1111/ecca.70025. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Bryson, Alex & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2025). Turning non-members into members: Do public subsidies to union membership matter? Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 229. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2024.106855. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Using linked employer-employee data for Norway’s private sector we estimate the impact of changes in tax subsidies for union membership on individuals’ membership probabilities. Increased subsidisation of the union members increases union take-up, while increased union fees reduce the demand for membership. The subsidy elasticity of demand for union membership was 0.29 in 2012, though effects are heterogeneous across workers. In the absence of the hikes in tax subsidies and holding workforce composition constant aggregate private sector union membership density would have fallen by 5 percentage points between 2001 and 2012. The elasticity of union membership with respect to subsidies is higher in segments of the labour market where unions have low representation in the first place, such as among temporary workers, youth, immigrants, and among workers in low-wage firms.

• Barth, Erling; Røed, Marianne; Schøne, Pål & Umblijs, Janis (2025). Winners and losers when firms robotize: wage effects across occupations and education. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics. doi: 10.1111/sjoe.12593. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper analyses the impact of robots on workers' wages in the manufacturing sector, with a particular focus on relative wages for workers with different levels of education and in different occupations. Using high-quality matched employer–employee register data with firm-level information on the introduction of industrial robots, we identify the effects of robotization on relative wages within firms. Skilled blue-collar workers with a vocational degree experience a decline in wages when firms introduce robots, while there are only small effects for the other groups of workers. These results suggest that robots are substitutes for tasks undertaken by skilled blue-collar workers in manufacturing, and furthermore that the adoption of robots contributes to a polarization of the labour market and a hollowing out of the wage distribution, rather than to skill-biased technical change.

• Barth, Erling; Dale-Olsen, Harald; Schøne, Pål & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2024). Chutes and Ladders? Job Opportunities for Generation Covid. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. doi: 10.18291/njwls.149979. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Focusing on jobs for youth, this study analyzes the development of job postings in Norway during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Jobs for youth are defined by the top 20 three-digit occupations for young workers, and postings for these occupations took a heavier hit than other jobs during the pandemic. We also identify the top 20 occupations for entrants immediately after completing their highest education to reveal that, during the pandemic, entry jobs for young people with lower education declined the most. Using 2018 and 2019 as reference years, we show that the decline started before ‘lockdown’ policies were in place but worsened during the lockdown. As the economy reopened, job posting rates improved but did not reach the 2018 and 2019 levels.

• Barth, Erling; Finseraas, Henning; Kjelsrud, Anders & Moene, Karl Ove (Kalle) (2023). Openness and the welfare state: risk and income effects in protection without protectionism. European Journal of Political Economy. 79. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2023.102405. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Have recent trends in globalization changed the positive link between trade openness and social insurance? The consensus view – that voters want better social insurance against income loss the more open the economy – is seemingly contested by the rise of new right-wing parties and the China shock. We present a theoretical framework of risk and income effects of globalization that captures the conventional view, but also shows when it will be modified: When the income effect is negative, the political support for social insurance can decline in spite of the risk effect. We construct an empirical measure of welfare state support across European regions and leverage the rapid integration of China into the world economy to show that higher import competition reduces the support for social insurance. Consistent with our framework, we use variations in employment losses between regions to decompose the overall effect of the shock into a (weak) positive risk effect and a (strong) negative income effect.

• Barth, Erling; Reisel, Liza & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2023). The Equality Hurdle: Resolving the Welfare State Paradox. Work, Employment and Society. p. 1–21. doi: 10.1177/09500170231155293. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article revisits a central tenet of the welfare state paradox, also known as the inclusion-equality trade-off. Using large-scale survey data for 31 European countries and the United States collected over a recent 15-year period, the article re-investigates the relationship between female labour force participation and gender segregation. Emphasising the transitional role played by the monetisation of domestic tasks, the study identifies a ‘gender equality hurdle’ that countries with the highest levels of female labour force participation have already passed. The results show that occupational gender segregation is currently lower in countries with high female labour force participation, regardless of public sector size. However, the findings also indicate that high relative levels of public spending on health, education and care is particularly conducive to desegregation. Hence, rather than being paradoxical, more equality in participation begets more equality in the labour market, as well as in gendered tasks in society overall.

• Barth, Erling; Dale-Olsen, Harald; Schøne, Pål & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2022). Er arbeidsmarkedet blitt mindre stramt etter covid? Magma forskning og viten. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Stramhet på arbeidsmarkedet måles ved forholdet mellom antall ledige stillinger som bedrifter ønsker å fylle, og antall som ikke er i jobb, men søker arbeid. Situasjonen under pandemien skiller seg fra tidligere erfaringer ved at antall permitterte skjøt kraftig i været. Siden NAVs tall for helt ledige også inkluderer helt permitterte, som har en lavere søkeaktivitet enn ledige uten jobb, får vi et skjevt bilde av stramheten på arbeidsmarkedet når vi bare teller opp antall utlysninger per helt ledige på vanlig måte. I denne artikkelen undersøker vi derfor hvordan stram­heten i arbeidsmarkedet har utviklet seg gjennom pandemien når vi korrigerer stramhets­indikatoren for antall permitterte. I motsetning til hva som har vært tilfellet tidligere, spiller denne korreksjonen en stor rolle for vår for­ståelse av stram­heten i arbeidsmarkedet. Vi ser også på stramhets­indikatoren for yrkesgrupper som er ulikt rammet av pandemien. Korrigerte tall viser at arbeidsmarkedet var svært stramt da samfunnet åpnet opp igjen siste høst.

• Barth, Erling; Davis, James C.; Freeman, Richard B. & McElheran, Kristina (2022). Twisting the demand curve: Digitalization and the older workforce. Journal of Econometrics. doi: 10.1016/j.jeconom.2021.12.003. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Software represents a major and fast-growing share of firms’ capital investment, impacting demand for labor and what workers do on their jobs. Using U.S. Census Bureau panel data that link firms and workers, this paper estimates the effect of firm software capital on the earnings of workers by age group. We extend the AKM framework to include job-spell fixed effects that account for potential correlation between the worker-firm match and employee age, and to include time-varying firm effects that allow for a correlation between wage-enhancing productivity shocks and software investments. Within job-spell, capitalized software investment raises worker earnings. However, it does so at a rate that declines after the age of 50, to about zero beyond 65. Our data further show that software capital increases the earnings of high-wage workers relative to low-wage workers and earnings in high-wage firms relative to low-wage firms, thereby widening earnings inequality within and across firms.

• Barth, Erling; Finseraas, Henning; Kjelsrud, Anders & Moene, Karl Ove (2022). Hit by the Silk Road: how wage coordination in Europe mitigates the China shock. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics. doi: 10.1111/sjoe.12489. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Coordination in collective wage setting can constrain potential monopoly gains to unions in non-traded-goods industries. Countries with national wage coordination can thus stabilize overall employment against fluctuations and shocks in the world economy. We test this argument by exploring within-country variation in exposure to competition from China in 13 European countries. Our estimates demonstrate that in countries with uncoordinated wage setting, regions with higher import exposure from China experienced a marked fall in employment, while countries with wage-coordination experienced no such employment effects. We show that our findings are robust to alternative measures of wage coordination, industry classifications, and trade exposure.

• Barth, Erling; Moene, Karl Ove (Kalle) & Pedersen, Axel West (2021). Rising Inequality in the Egalitarian Nordics. In Fischer, Georg & Strauss, Robert (Ed.), Europe's Income, Wealth, Consumption, and Inequality. Oxford University Press. p. 219–246. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780197545706.003.0006. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The chapter demonstrates that while the Nordic countries remain relatively affluent and egalitarian, inequality of disposable household income has been on the rise over the past 30 years. The increase in income inequality and relative income poverty has been strongest in Sweden and more modest in the three other countries. In Sweden, and, to a lesser extent, in Finland and Denmark, a reduced role for social transfers among the working age population has contributed to a decline in relative income levels enjoyed by the bottom quintile. Often in the wake of serious macro-economic downturns, politicians have reduced the generosity of social transfers to improve labour market incentives. Even if these reforms have had the intended effect on employment, the increase in earnings has not been sufficient to replace the loss of social transfers.

• Barth, Erling & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2021). Fortsatt polarisering i det norske arbeidsmarkedet? Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 38(1), p. 23–40. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2021-01-02. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Arbeidsmarkedene i vestlige land har blitt polarisert over tid ved at middelklasseyrker har blitt automatisert bort. Denne prosessen er tidligere også dokumentert i Norge. Ettersom automatiseringen og digitaliseringen har fortsatt å øke, undersøker vi i denne artikkelen om de polariserende tendensene fortsatt pågår. Ved å analysere norske registerdata for perioden 2004-2018 finner vi stadig økende etterspørsel i toppen av yrkesfordelingen, men ikke økt etterspørsel lengre ned i fordelingen. Oppgraderingen og økt etterspørsel i toppen av arbeidsmarkedet, fortsatt fall i etterspørselen på midten, dempes av at relative lønninger har økt på toppen og falt på bunnen.

• Barth, Erling; Kerr, Sari Pekkala & Olivetti, Claudia (2021). The dynamics of gender earnings differentials: Evidence from establishment data. European Economic Review. 134. doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103713. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Despite dramatic workforce gains by women in recent decades, a substantial gender earnings gap persists and widens over the course of men’s and women’s careers. Since there are earnings differences across establishments, a key question is the extent to which the widening of the gender pay gap over time arises from differences in career advances within the same establishment versus differential gains from job-to-job moves across establishments. Using a unique match between the 2000 Decennial Census of the United States and the Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics (LEHD) data, we find that both channels are important and affect workers differently by education. For the college-educated the increasing gap is for the most part due to differential earnings growth within establishment. The between-establishment component explains only 27 percent of the widening of the total gender pay gap for this group. For workers without college degree, the establishment component is the main driver of the, relatively small, widening of the gender earnings gap. For both education groups, marriage plays a crucial role in the establishment component of the increasing earnings gap.

• Barth, Erling; Bryson, Alex & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2020). Union Density Effects on Productivity and Wages. The Economic Journal. 130(631), p. 1898–1936. doi: 10.1093/EJ/UEAA048. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We exploit changes in tax subsidies for union members in Norway to identify the effects of changes in firm level union density on productivity and wages. Increased deductions in taxable income for union members led to higher membership rates and contributed to a lower decline in union membership rates over time in Norway. Accounting for selection effects and the potential endogeneity of unionisation, the results show that increasing union density at the firm level leads to a substantial increase in both productivity and wages. The wage effect is larger in more productive firms, consistent with rent-sharing models.

• Albæk, Karsten; Asplund, Rita; Barth, Erling; Lindahl, Lena; Strøm, Marte & Vanhala, Pekka (2020). Bedre sent enn aldri? Hvordan sen fullføring av videregående skole påvirker tidlig karriere. Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 37(01-02), p. 124–141. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2020-01-02-08. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Får ungdom i Norden som fullfører videregående skole mellom 21 og 28 års alder bedre tilgang til arbeidsmarkedet enn de som ikke har fullført ved 28? Vi finner at de som har fullført innen 28 års alder, har 12-15 prosentpoeng lavere sannsynlighet for å være NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) enn de som ikke har fullført. Når vi kontrollerer for sosioøkonomisk bakgrunn og særlig for tidlige skole-til-arbeid overganger mellom 16 og 20 år forsvinner mye av forskjellene mellom land, men fortsatt gjenstår de fleste av forskjellene mellom de som fullfører sent og de som ikke fullfører.

• Barth, Erling; Bryson, Alex & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2020). Hva betyr skattefradraget for oppslutningen om fagforeninger? Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 37, p. 109–123. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2020-01-02-07. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Cools, Sara & Strøm, Marte (2019). Geografisk variasjon i sosial mobilitet: Polarisering i arbeidslivet, fraflytting og mødres yrkesaktivitet. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning (TfS). 60(3), p. 300–308. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-291X-2019-03-08. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Keute, Anna Lene; Schøne, Pål; Simson, Kristine von & Steffensen, Kjartan (2019). NEET Status and Early versus Later Skills among Young Adults: Evidence from linked register-PIAAC data. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. doi: 10.1080/00313831.2019.1659403. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Do skills protect against exclusion in adult ages, and how important are the skills acquired before the age of 16 years versus those acquired later on? We match the scores on numeracy and literacy skills from the 2011 PIAAC for young adults backwards to grade point average (GPA) data from compulsory school education, measured at the age of 16 years (GPA16), and forwards to employment and education register data 2 years after the PIAAC test. There is a high correlation between GPA16 and PIAAC scores even when controlling for parental background, health status, and completion of post-compulsory school education. Including both GPA16 and PIAAC scores in a model of the probability of NEET status 2 years after the PIAAC test shows three times as large differences associated with GPA16 scores than with PIAAC scores, even though the PIAAC test is taken closer in time than the GPA16 results.

• Barth, Erling; Davis, James Creece & Freeman, Richard (2018). Augmenting the Human Capital Earnings Equation With Measures of Where People Work. Journal of Labor Economics. 36, p. 71–97. doi: 10.1086/694187. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We augment standard log earnings equations for workers in US manufacturing with variables reflecting measured and unmeasured attributes of their employer. Using panel employee-establishment data, we find that establishment-level employment, education of coworkers, capital equipment per worker, and firm-level R&D intensity affects earnings substantially. Unobserved characteristics of employers captured by employer fixed effects also contribute to the variance of log earnings, although less than unobserved characteristics of individuals captured by individual fixed effects. The observed and unobserved measures of employers mediate the effects of individual characteristics on earnings and increase earnings inequality through sorting of workers among establishments

• Barth, Erling & Ognedal, Tone (2018). Tax evasion in firms. Labour. 32(1), p. 23–44. doi: 10.1111/labr.12111. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Moene, Karl Ove (2017). Reell eller Ideell Konkurranse. Samfunnsøkonomen. 131(2), p. 92–102. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Konkurranse dreier seg ikke bare om priser og kostnader. Derfor kan ikke små åpne økonomier gjøre det bra ved bare å produsere det samme som andre land, på samme måte, men med lavere kostnader. Den reelle konkurransen dreier seg om hva en skal gjøre og hvordan en skal gjøre det. Den dreier seg like mye om organisering, institusjoner og fordelingspolitikk som om nye metoder, nye teknologier og nye produkter. Troen på anbefalingene fra institusjonsfri økonomisk teori kan stå i veien for den nødvendige institusjonelle oppfinnsomheten.

• Goldin, Claudia; Kerr, Sari Pekkala; Olivetti, Claudia & Barth, Erling (2017). The Expanding Gender Earnings Gap: Evidence from the LEHD-2000 Census. The American Economic Review. 107(5), p. 110–114. doi: 10.1257/aer.p20171065. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Davis, James Creece; Freeman, Richard & Kerr, Sari Pekkala (2017). Weathering the Great Recession: Variation in Employment Responses, by Establishments and Countries. The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. 3(3), p. 50–69. doi: 10.7758/rsf.2017.3.3.03. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper finds that U.S. employment changed differently relative to output in the Great Recession and recovery than in most other advanced countries or in the United States in earlier recessions. Instead of hoarding labor, U.S. firms reduced employment proportionately more than output in the Great Recession, with establishments that survived the downturn contracting jobs massively. Diverging from the aggregate pattern, U.S. manufacturers reduced employment less than output while the elasticity of employment to gross output varied widely among establishments. In the recovery, growth of employment was dominated by job creation in new establishments. The variegated responses of employment to output challenges extant models of how enterprises adjust employment over the business cycle

• Barth, Erling; Bryson, Alex; Davis, James C. & Freeman, Richard (2016). It's Where You Work: Increases in the Dispersion of Earnings across Establishments and Individuals in the United States. Journal of Labor Economics. 34(2), p. S67–S97. doi: 10.1086/684045. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper analyzes the role of establishments in the upward trend in dispersion of earnings that has become a central topic in economic analysis and policy debate. It decomposes changes in the variance of log earnings among individuals into the part due to changes in earnings among establishments and the part due to changes in earnings within establishments. The main finding is that much of the 1970s–2010s increase in earnings inequality results from increased dispersion of the earnings among the establishments where individuals work. Our results direct attention to the role of establishment-level pay setting and economic adjustments in earnings inequality.

• Barth, Erling; Schøne, Pål & Simson, Kristine von (2016). Sammenhengen mellom ferdigheter fra ungdomsskolen og ferdigheter i PIAAC-undersøkelsen. Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 33(4), p. 349–359. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2016-04-04. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Moene, Karl Ove (2016). The Equality Multiplier: How Wage Compression and Welfare Empowerment Interact. Journal of the European Economic Association. 14(5), p. 1011–1037. doi: 10.1111/jeea.12163. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We explore how more wage equality fuels the generosity of the welfare state via political competition in elections, and how a more generous welfare state fuels wage equality via empowerment of weak groups in the labor market. Together the two mechanisms may generate a cumulative process that explains how equality multiplies, and why countries with more equal distributions of market outcomes also have stronger welfare states. The complementarity between wage setting and welfare spending can explain why almost equally rich countries differ so much in economic and social equality among their citizens.

• Barth, Erling; Finseraas, Henning & Moene, Karl Ove (2015). Political Reinforcement: How Rising Inequality Curbs Manifested Welfare Generosity. American Journal of Political Science (AJPS). 59(3), p. 565–577. doi: 10.1111/ajps.12129. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We propose a political reinforcement hypothesis, suggesting that rising inequality moves party politics on welfare state issues to the right, strengthening rather than modifying the impact of inequality. We model policy platforms by incorporating ideology and opportunism of party members and interests and sympathies of voters. If welfare spending is a normal good within income classes, a majority of voters moves rightward when inequality increases. As a response, the left, in particular, shift their welfare policy platform toward less generosity. We find support for our arguments using data on the welfare policy platforms of political parties in 22 OECD countries.

• Barth, Erling & Moene, Karl Ove (2015). Missing the Link? On the Political Economy of Nordic Egalitarianism. In Andersen, Torben M.; Bergman, U. Michael & Jensen, Svend E. Hougaard (Ed.), Reform Capacity and Macroeconomic Performance in the Nordic Countries. Oxford University Press. p. 50–68. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Moene, Karl Ove (Kalle) & Willumsen, Fredrik (2015). Reprint of "The Scandinavian model-An interpretation". Journal of Public Economics. 127, p. 17–29. doi: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2015.05.006. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Nergaard, Kristine (2015). Kollektive partsforhold: Status quo eller endring? In Dale-Olsen, Harald (Eds.), Norsk arbeidsliv i turbulente tider. Gyldendal Akademisk. p. 83–104. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Bratsberg, Bernt & Raaum, Oddbjørn (2015). Prestasjonslønn i nye former. In Dale-Olsen, Harald (Eds.), Norsk arbeidsliv i turbulente tider. Gyldendal Akademisk. p. 121–136. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Moene, Karl Ove & Pedersen, Axel West (2015). Trygd og sysselsetting i et internasjonalt perspektiv. In Bay, Ann-Helén; Hagelund, Anniken & Hatland, Aksel (Ed.), For mange på trygd? : Velferdspolitiske spenninger. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 153–170. Full text in Research Archive
• Albæk, Karsten; Asplund, Rita; Barth, Erling; Lindahl, Lena & Simson, Kristine von (2015). Ungdomsarbeidsløshet i Norden. Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 32(1-2), p. 78–90. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Denne artikkelen tar for seg ungdomsarbeidsløshet målt på flere måter. For det første spiller det en stor rolle om man regner arbeidsløsheten for ungdom i prosent av befolkningen eller i prosent av arbeidsstyrken. For det andre gjør det stor forskjell om man tar med blant de arbeidsløse ungdom som oppgir å ha skolegang eller studier som hovedaktivitet. De nordiske landene blir mer like og kommer langt bedre ut i en internasjonal sammenlikning om man trekker studenter ut av arbeidsløshetstallene. Artikkelen avslutter med en diskusjon av hvilke tall som bør benyttes til hvilke formål.

• Nergaard, Kristine; Barth, Erling & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2015). Lavere organisasjonsgrad, et spørsmål om nykommere? Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 32(1-2), p. 91–110. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2020-01-02-07. Full text in Research Archive
• Albæk, Karsten; Asplund, Rita; Barth, Erling & Simson, Kristine von (2014). Early School leaving and Labour market prospects. In Valkonen, Tarmo & Vihriälä, Vesa (Ed.), The Nordic model - challenged but capable of reform. Nordic Council of Ministers. p. 235–259. doi: 10.6027/TN2014-531. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Moene, Karl Ove (2014). When Institutions Reciprocate: Turning European Social Models Around. In Dølvik, Jon Erik & Martin, Andrew (Harvard CES) (Ed.), European Social Models from Crisis to Crisis. Employment and Inequality in the Era of Monetary Integration. Oxford University Press. p. 306–324. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198717966.003.0010. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Moene, Karl Ove & Willumsen, Fredrik (2014). The Scandinavian model-An interpretation. Journal of Public Economics. 117(Sept.), p. 60–72. doi: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.04.001. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The small open economies in Scandinavia have for long periods had high work effort, small wage differentials, high productivity, and a generous welfare state. To understand how this might be an economic and political equilibrium we combine models of collective wage bargaining, creative job destruction, and welfare spending. The two-tier system of wage bargaining provides microeconomic efficiency and wage compression. Combined with a vintage approach to the process of creative destruction we show how wage compression fuels investments, enhances average productivity and increases the mean wage by allocating more of the work force to the most modern activities. Finally, we show how the political support of welfare spending is fueled by both a higher mean wage and a lower wage dispersion.

• Barth, Erling; Hardoy, Ines; Schøne, Pål & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2014). Hva betyr høy yrkesdeltakelse for kjønnssegregering? In Reisel, Liza & Teigen, Mari (Ed.), Kjønnsdeling og etniske skiller på arbeidsmarkedet. Gyldendal Akademisk. p. 108–118. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Cappelen, Alexander Wright & Ognedal, Tone (2013). Fair tax evasion. Nordic Journal of Political Economy (NOPEC). 38, p. 1–16. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2262192. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Moene, Karl Ove (2013). Why do small open economies have such small wage differentials? Nordic Economic Policy Review. 1, p. 139–170. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Simson, Kristine von (2013). Ulike veier gjennom videregående: Hva skjer de neste ti årene? Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 30(4), p. 313–333. Full text in Research Archive
• Bryson, Alex; Barth, Erling & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2013). The Effects of Organizational Change on Worker Well-being and the Moderating Role of Trade Unions. Industrial & labor relations review. 66(4), p. 989–1011. doi: 10.1177/001979391306600410. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Bratsberg, Bernt & Raaum, Oddbjørn (2012). Immigrant wage profiles within and between establishments. Labour Economics. 19(4), p. 541–556. doi: 10.1016/j.labeco.2012.05.009. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Bratsberg, Bernt; Hægeland, Torbjørn & Raaum, Oddbjørn (2012). Performance pay, union bargaining and within-firm wage inequality. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics. 74(3), p. 327–362. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0084.2011.00656.x. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Theory predicts that performance pay boosts wage dispersion. Workers retain a share of individual productivity shocks and high-efficiency workers receive compensation for greater effort. Collective bargaining can mitigate the effect of performance pay on wage inequality by easing monitoring of common effort standards and group-based pay schemes. Analyses of longitudinal employer–employee data show that the introduction of performance-related pay raises wage inequality in non-union firms, but not in firms with high union density. Although performance-related pay appears to be on the rise, the overall impact on wage dispersion is likely to be small, particularly in European countries with influential unions.

• Bryson, Alex; Barth, Erling & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2012). Do higher wages come at a price? Journal of Economic Psychology. 33(1), p. 251–263. doi: 10.1016/j.joep.2011.10.005. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Moene, Karl Ove (2012). Employment as a Price or a Prize of Equality: A Descriptive Analysis. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. 2(2), p. 5–33. doi: 10.19154/njwls.v2i2.2355. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Schøne, Pål (2012). Best på skolen. Best på jobben? Samfunnsøkonomen. 126(9), p. 14–25. Full text in Research Archive

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• Dale-Olsen, Harald; Barth, Erling & Bryson, Alex (2022). Turning Non-members into Members: Do Public Subsidies to Union Membership Matter? University College London. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Finseraas, Henning; Kjelsrud, Anders Grøn & Moene, Karl Ove (Kalle) (2021). Does the Rise of China Lead to the Fall of European Welfare States? IZA Institute of Labor Economics. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Have recent trends in globalization changed the positive link between trade openness and social insurance? The consensus view - that voters want better social insurance against income loss the more open the economy - is seemingly contested by the rise of populism and the China shock. We present a theoretical framework of risk and income effects of globalization that captures the conventional view, but also shows when it will be modified: When the income effect is negative, the political support for social insurance can decline in spite of the risk effect. We construct an empirical measure of welfare state support across European regions and leverage the rapid integration of China into the world economy to show that higher import competition reduces the support for social insurance. Consistent with our framework, we decompose the overall effect of the shock into a (weak) positive risk effect and a (strong) negative income effect

• Barth, Erling; Dale-Olsen, Harald; Schøne, Pål & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2021). Chutes and ladders? Job Opportunities for Generation Covid. IZA Institute of labor economics. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  With a focus on jobs for youth, this paper analyses the development of job postings in Norway during the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Jobs for youth are defined by the top 20 3-digit occupations for young workers. Job postings in these occupations took a larger hit than other jobs. We also identify the top 20 occupations for entrants right after completed highest education. Separate analyses by education reveal that entry jobs for young people with lower education declined the most during the pandemic. Using a difference in difference framework with 2018 and 2019 as reference years, we show that the decline started before “lock-down” policies were in place, but that the decline was even larger during the lock-down. Concurrent with re-opening phases in the economy, job posting rates improved, but did not reach the levels comparable to those in 2018 and 2019.

• Barth, Erling; Røed, Marianne; Schøne, Pål & Umblijs, Janis (2020). How Robots Change Within-Firm Wage Inequality. IZA Institute of Labor Economics. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Using novel matched employer-employee register data with firm-level information on the introduction of industrial robots, this paper analysis the impact of robots on the wages of workers in the manufacturing sector. The results show that industrial robots increase wages for high-skilled workers relative to low-skilled workers, hence robots increase the skill-premium within firms. Furthermore, we find that employees in managerial positions benefit more from robotisation than those in STEM or professional occupations. Overall, our results suggest that the introduction of industrial robots has a positive effect on the average wages of manufacturing workers in Norway

• Barth, Erling; Davis, James Creece; Freeman, Richard B. & McElheran, Kristina (2020). Twisting the Demand Curve: Digitalization and the Older Workforce. NBER. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper uses U.S. Census Bureau panel data that link firm software investment to worker earnings. We regress the log of earnings of workers by age group on the software investment by their employing firm. To unpack the potential causal factors for differential software effects by age group we extend the AKM framework by including job-spell fixed effects that allow for a correlation between the worker-firm match and age and by including time-varying firm effects that allow for a correlation between wage-enhancing productivity shocks and software investments. Within job-spell, software capital raises earnings at a rate that declines post age 50 to about zero after age 65. By contrast, the effects of non-IT equipment investment on earnings increase for workers post age 50. The difference between the software and non-IT equipment effects suggests that our results are attributable to the technology rather than to age-related bargaining power. Our data further show that software capital increases the earnings of highwage workers relative to low-wage workers and the earnings in high-wage firms relative to lowwage firms, and may thus widen earnings inequality within and across firms

• Criscuolo, Chiara; Hijzen, Alexander; Schwellnus, Cyrille; Barth, Erling; Fabling, Richard & Fialho, Priscilla [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2020). Workforce composition, productivity and pay: the role of firms in wage inequality. OECD. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In many OECD countries, low productivity growth has coincided with rising inequality. Widening wage and productivity gaps between firms may have contributed to both developments. This paper uses a new harmonised cross-country linked employer-employee dataset for 14 OECD countries to analyse the role of firms in wage inequality. The main finding is that, on average across countries, changes in the dispersion of average wages between firms explain about half of the changes in overall wage inequality. Two thirds of these changes in between-firm wage inequality are accounted for by changes in productivity-related premia that firms pay their workers above common market wages. The remaining third can be attributed to changes in workforce composition, including the sorting of high-skilled workers into high-paying firms. Over all, these results suggest that firms play an important role in explaining wage inequality as wages are driven to a significant extent by firm performance rather than being exclusively determined by workers’ earnings characteristics

• Barth, Erling; Finseraas, Henning; Kjelsrud, Anders Grøn & Moene, Karl Ove (Kalle) (2020). Hit by the Silk Road: How Wage Coordination in Europe Mitigates the China Shock. IZA – Institute of Labor Economics. Full text in Research Archive
• Albæk, Karsten; Asplund, Rita; Barth, Erling; Lindahl, Lena; Strøm, Marte & Vanhala, Pekka (2019). Better Late than Never? How Late Completion Affects the Early Career of Dropouts. IZA Institute of Labor Economics. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Across the OECD countries, dropouts from upper secondary schooling fare worse in the labor market, with higher NEET rates more spells of unemployment and lower earnings. Among the dropouts, there are however significant shares who complete at a later age. In this paper, we thus ask the question: Does it pay for young adults who do not complete upper secondary schooling by the age of 21, to do so at some point during the subsequent 7 years, that is, before turning 28? In all four Nordic countries under scrutiny, we find that late completion lowers the probability of being outside employment, education or training (NEET) at age 28. Moreover, the exact age of completion does not seem to matter. Our estimates are robust to the inclusion of extensive controls for socioeconomic background and early schooling paths, and similar to the ones produced by event history analysis with individual fixed effects. This indicates that late completion of upper secondary schooling plays an important role for the labor market inclusion of young dropouts.

• Dale-Olsen, Harald; Strøm, Marte; Østbakken, Kjersti Misje & Barth, Erling (2018). Avtaleformer, lønnsvekst og lønnsspredning. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I denne rapporten ser vi nærmere på utviklingen i avtaleformer, lønnsvekst og lønnsspredning gjennom en litteraturgjennomgang og gjennom å anvende data fra Norge i perioden 1997 til 2014. Vi anvender data fra Lønnsstatistikken, fra populasjonsomfattende registerdata (sammenkobling av Aa-registeret og LTO-registeret) og fra virksomhetsbaserte spørreundersøkelser (ABU 1997/2003/2012). Vi finner at kun mindre endringer i avtalesystemet i Norge har funnet sted i senere tid, og kontinuitet preger norsk økonomi i så måte. Dog skal det sies at i både privat og offentlig sektor skjedde det viktige endringer på 90-tallet og begynnelsen av 2000-tallet, som innebar en viss desentralisering. Mønstrene blir mindre klare på 2000-tallet for de fleste private næringer. Våre undersøkelser viser at lønnsspredningen øker i perioden. Denne utviklingen deler vi med de fleste industrialiserte land. Vi viser samtidig at det ikke nødvendigvis er slik at lønnsspredningen er større på områder med stor grad av lokal lønnsdannelse, eller at veksten i lønnsspredning er størst på de områdene som har en tydeligere desentralisering av lønnsdannelsen. Dekomponeringen av lønnsspredningen viser dog at lønnsforskjellene er større mellom virksomheter enn de er innad i virksomheter. Vi finner at virksomheter hvor lønnen kun fastsettes gjennom lokale forhandlinger, har noe høyere lønn i gjennomsnitt enn virksomheter hvor lønnen fastsettes sentralt, men hvor lokale lønnsforhandlinger kommer som et supplement. På toppen av lønnshierarkiet er forskjellen enda større, men på bunnen er den lik. Individuell lønnsfastsettelse er uansett om en betrakter bunnen, gjennomsnittet eller toppen, assosiert med klart høyere lønn. Individuelle lønnsavtaler er også assosiert med høyere lønnsspredning generelt, og da særlig på toppen av lønnsfordelingen. Men dette kan langt på vei forklares med marked, eierskap og lokale forhold. Både for kvinner og menn vil lokal lønnsdannelse og individuell lønnsfastsettelse være assosiert med høyere lønn, også innad i næringer, men lønnsforskjellene mellom kvinner og menn innad i næringer blir ikke påvirket av avtaleformene. Vi finner heller ikke støtte for antakelsen om at høy lønnsspredning er nødvendig for å oppnå høy lønnsvekst. Lønnsoppgjørene ser ut til å følge konjunkturutviklingen tett. Det ser i litt mindre grad ut til at de gjennomsnittlige tilleggene følger konjunkturene i offentlig sektor. Vi finner, over hele lønnsfordelingen, en negativ sammenheng mellom sentrale tillegg og lokale tillegg. De sentrale tilleggene blir imidlertid ikke fullstendig kompensert lokalt. Det betyr at størrelsen på de sentrale oppgjørene er styrende for størrelsen på lønnsveksten over hele inntektsfordelingen, selv om det ikke er krone for krone. Vi fant at sentrale tillegg demper lønnsspredningen, særlig på bunnen, og spesielt for funksjonærer. Samtidig så vi at lønnsspredningen dempes mest for kvinner, og særlig for ikke-funksjonærer. Selv om vi avdekker en dempende sammenheng mellom de sentrale tilleggene og lønnsspredningen, så er denne sammenhengen svak. Det er veldig mye annet som er viktig for lønnsspredningen i Norge. I et likelønnsperspektiv er det viktig å være klar over at det lønnsutjevnende elementet i de faste tilleggene slik disse er utformet i dag, ikke er spesielt viktig som virkemiddel for å oppnå likelønn.

• Østbakken, Kjersti Misje; Reisel, Liza; Schøne, Pål; Barth, Erling & Hardoy, Ines (2017). Kjønnssegregering og mobilitet i det norske arbeidsmarkedet. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Kerr, Sari Pekkala & Olivetti, Claudia (2017). The Dynamics of Gender Earnings Differentials: Evidence from Establishment Data. NBER Working Paper # 23381. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We use a unique match between the 2000 Decennial Census of the United States and the Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics (LEHD) data to analyze how much of the increase in the gender earnings gap over the lifecycle comes from shifts in the sorting of men and women across high- and low-pay establishments and how much is due to differential earnings growth within establishments. We find that for the college educated the increase is substantial and, for the most part, due to differential earnings growth within establishment by gender. The between component is also important. Differential mobility between establishments by gender can explain 27 percent of the widening of the pay gap for this group. For those with no college, the, relatively small, increase of the gender gap over the lifecycle can be fully explained by differential moves by gender across establishments. The evidence suggests that, for both education groups, the between-establishment component of the increasing wage gap is due almost entirely to those who are married.

• Barth, Erling; Davis, James Creece & Freeman, Richard (2016). Augmenting the Human Capital Earnings Equation with Measures of Where People Work. NBER Working Paper #22512. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We augment standard ln earnings equations with variables reflecting unmeasured attributes of workers and measured and unmeasured attributes of their employer. Using panel employee-establishment data for US manufacturing we find that the observable employer characteristics that most impact earnings are: number of workers, education of co-workers, capital Equipment per worker, industry in which the establishment produces, and R&D intensity of the firm. Employer fixed effects also contribute to the variance of ln earnings, though substantially less than individual fixed effects. In addition to accounting for some of the variance in earnings, the observed and unobserved measures of employers mediate the estimated effects of individual characteristics on earnings and increasing earnings inequality through the sorting of workers among establishments.

• Barth, Erling; Marius, Vaag Iversen Jon; Schøne, Pål; Simson, Kristine von & Strøm, Bjarne (2016). Sammenhengen mellom ferdigheter og arbeidsmarkedssituasjon for utsatte grupper. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Betydningen av ulike typer ferdigheter for å få innpass på arbeidsmarkedet har fått økt oppmerksomhet de siste årene, både blant beslutningstakere og blant forskere. Det er også god dokumentasjon på at etterspørselen etter personer med høy kompetanse har økt de siste tiårene, og at dette i noen land har ført til større lønnsforskjeller mellom høyt og lavt kvalifiserte arbeidstakere. Det er dokumentert at rask teknologisk endring er en viktig mekanisme bak denne utviklingen i etterspørselen etter arbeidskraft. En utfordring for de fleste industrialiserte land er hvordan man i tider med hurtig teknologisk endring og økte krav til kompetanse også klarer å inkludere personer med lavere kvalifikasjoner. Tall fra OECDs PIAAC-undersøkelse, for både Norge og andre land, viser at arbeidsmarkedsdeltakelsen er betydelig lavere for personer som har svake ferdigheter. I denne rapporten benytter vi PIAAC-undersøkelsen for å studere sammenhengen mellom ferdigheter, ulike indikatorer på utsatthet, og arbeidsmarkedsdeltakelse. Vårt hovedmål på utsatthet er selvopplevd helse. Vi finner at både helse og ferdigheter har betydning for arbeidsmarkedsdeltakelse. I en analyse hvor vi forsøker å kvantifisere den relative betydningen av helse og ferdigheter, antyder resultatene at helse er viktigere enn ferdigheter.

• Barth, Erling; Davis, James C.; Freeman, Richard & Kerr, Sari Pekkala (2016). Weathering the Great Recession: Variation in Employment Responses by Establishments and Countries. NBER Working Paper #22432. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper finds that US employment changed differently relative to output in the Great Recession and recovery than in most other advanced countries or in the US in earlier recessions. Instead of hoarding labor, US firms reduced employment proportionately more than output in the Great Recession, with establishments that survived the downturn contracting jobs massively. Diverging from the aggregate pattern, US manufacturers reduced employment less than output while the elasticity of employment to gross output varied widely among establishments. In the recovery, growth of employment was dominated by job creation in new establishments. The variegated responses of employment to output challenges extant models of how enterprises adjust employment over the business cycle.

• Barth, Erling; Albæk, Karsten; Asplund, Rita; Lindahl, Lena; Simson, Kristine von & Vanhala, Pekka (2015). Youth Unemployment and Inactivity. A comparison of School to work transitions and Labour market outcomes in four Nordic countries. Nordic Council of Ministers. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Bryson, Alex; Davis, James C. & Freeman, Richard (2014). It's Where You Work: Increases in Earnings Dispersion across Establishments and Individuals in the U.S. NBER Working Paper #20447. Full text in Research Archive
• Strøm, Marte; Barth, Erling & Schøne, Pål (2014). Er lønnsgapet mellom kvinner og men i ferd med å lukkes? Departementenes sikkerhets- og serviceorganisasjon, Informasjonsforvaltning. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Cappelen, Alexander Wright & Ognedal, Tone (2013). Fair tax evasion. Institutt for samfunnsøkonomi, Norges Handelshøyskole. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this paper we analyse how fairness considerations, in particular considerations of just income distribution, affect whether or not people find tax evasion justifiable and their willingness to evade taxes. Using data from the Norwegian “Hidden Labour Market Survey” we show that individuals with low hourly wages and long working hours have a higher probability of justifying tax evasion. These are individuals that arguably are treated unfairly in a tax system that taxes an individual’s total income without taking into account how many hours the individual has worked. The same individuals are also more willing and likely to take home income without reporting it to the tax authorities. The results are consistent with a model in which individuals make a trade-off between economic gains and fairness considerations when they make decisions about tax evasion. Taken together our results suggest that considerations of fair income distribution are important for the analysis of tax evasion.

• Barth, Erling; Hardoy, Ines; Schøne, Pål & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2013). Lønnsforskjeller mellom kvinner og menn : Hva har skjedd på 2000-tallet? Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  At kvinner tjener mindre enn menn er et gjennomgående funn. I denne rapporten studerer vi timelønnsutviklingen for kvinner og menn i perioden 2002-2011. Vi analyserer betydningen av kjønnssegregering på næring og yrke, betydningen av utdanningsnivå, sammenhengen mellom timelønn og alder, og vi analyserer sammenhengen mellom barn og timelønn separat for kvinner og menn. I tillegg analyserer vi inntektsforskjeller der vi også inkluderer personer som ikke er aktive på arbeidsmarkedet. Resultatene viser en svak tilnærming mellom kvinners og menns timelønn. Den ujusterte gjennomsnittlige timelønnsforskjellen har falt fra 14,2 prosent til 12,7 prosent i perioden 2002-2011. Når vi sammenligner kvinner og menn som jobber i samme yrke innen samme næring er lønnsgapet på 7,1 prosent i 2011. Dette viser at timelønnsforskjellen henger sammen med det kjønnssegregerte arbeidsmarkedet. Likevel eksisterer det et ikke ubetydelig lønnsgap, selv etter kontroll for detaljert næring og yrke. Timelønnsforskjellene mellom kvinner og menn vokser tidlig i karrieren for de yngste kohortene, mens vi ser en viss tilnærming mot slutten av karrieren for de eldste. Sammenhengen mellom barn og timelønn er generelt negativ for kvinner, mens den er positiv for menn. Over tid ser vi at den negative sammenhengen mellom timelønn og barn blir svakere. Inntektsanalysene våre viser at menn har mest kapitalinntekter som bidrar til økte inntektsforskjeller, kvinner har mest offentlige overføringer som bidrar til en reduksjon i forskjellene, mens skatt har en omfordelende effekt og gir mindre inntektsforskjeller. Vi finner også at når vi kontrollerer for forskjeller i utdanning og erfaring, er inntektsforskjellene større innen familie enn mellom tilfeldig valgte kvinner og menn, noe som indikerer en viss form for spesialisering innad i husholdningen.

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• Reisel, Liza & Barth, Erling (2026). Technological change and skill requirements. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2025). Monopsony, labour demand fluctuations and the gender wage gap. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2025). Monopsony, labour demand fluctuations and the gender wage gap. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling (2025). Monopsony, labour demand fluctuations and the gender wage gap. Full text in Research Archive
• Dale-Olsen, Harald & Barth, Erling (2024). Monopsony, labour demand fluctuations and the gender wage gap. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The gender wage gap is a quite persistent phenomenon across the world and over time. This can partly be attributed to motherhood and family relationship. How the gender wage gap varies as labour demand fluctuates is less known. We apply monthly population-wide administrative linked employer-employee-data for Norway during the period 2015-2019 to study how employer monopsony power affects the gender wage gap for all and for different family relationships. Labour market frictions are important contributors to the gender wage gap, but on average their contribution diminishes as labour demand grows.

• Barth, Erling; Reisel, Liza & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2023). Norge har ikke lenger et av de mest kjønnsdelte arbeidsmarkedene i Europa. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Bryson, Alex & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2023). Creative Disruption – Technology innovation, labour demand and the pandemic. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Røed, Marianne; Schøne, Pål & Umblijs, Janis (2023). Robots and employment. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Røed, Marianne; Schøne, Pål & Umblijs, Janis (2023). Does Firm-Automation Reduce Offshoring? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this paper we analyse the effects of automation on offshoring, using detailed matched employer-employee data, containing firm-level register information on both automation and offshoring. Automating the production process may displace certain workers, especially workers conducting tasks overtaken by the automation process. A key question is which workers are potentially displaced when automation occurs. In this paper we look closer at the relationship between domestic workers and workers located abroad. Irrespective of offshore indicator used, the results show a negative effect of automation on offshoring, in the post-period. This result is supportive of a hypothesis that automation substitute workers abroad conducting tasks that are automatable in the domestic production process. We also find that automation reduce domestic employment. The reduction is largest among blue collar workers and low skilled workers. These results combined, suggest that automation reduces employment abroad, but does not spur domestic employment.

• Schøne, Pål; Røed, Marianne; Barth, Erling & Umblijs, Janis (2023). Does Firm-Automation Reduce Offshoring? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this paper we analyse the effects of automation on offshoring, using detailed matched employer-employee data, containing firm-level register information on both automation and offshoring. Automating the production process may displace certain workers, especially workers conducting tasks overtaken by the automation process. A key question is which workers are potentially displaced when automation occurs. In this paper we look closer at the relationship between domestic workers and workers located abroad. Irrespective of offshore indicator used, the results show a negative effect of automation on offshoring, in the post-period. This result is supportive of a hypothesis that automation substitute workers abroad conducting tasks that are automatable in the domestic production process. We also find that automation reduce domestic employment. The reduction is largest among blue collar workers and low skilled workers. These results combined, suggest that automation reduces employment abroad, but does not spur domestic employment.

• Dale-Olsen, Harald; Barth, Erling & Bryson, Alex (2022). Technological innovation, labour demand, and the pandemic. Full text in Research Archive
• Dale-Olsen, Harald; Barth, Erling & Bryson, Alex (2022). Creative disruption - Technological innovation, labour demand, and the pandemic. Full text in Research Archive
• Umblijs, Janis; Barth, Erling; Røed, Marianne & Schøne, Pål (2022). How Robots Change Within-Firm Wage Inequality. Full text in Research Archive
• Umblijs, Janis; Barth, Erling; Schøne, Pål & Røed, Marianne (2022). Robots and Employment a Firm Level Approach. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Schøne, Pål; Dale-Olsen, Harald & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2021). The rise and fall - labor demand during COVID-19. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Dale-Olsen, Harald & Schøne, Pål (2021). Chutes and ladders? Job Opportunities for Generation Covid. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Dale-Olsen, Harald; Schøne, Pål & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2021). Chutes and ladders? Job Opportunities for Generation Covid. Full text in Research Archive
• Østbakken, Kjersti Misje; Barth, Erling; Dale-Olsen, Harald & Schøne, Pål (2020). Nye jobber i fritt fall. Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 37, p. 316–323. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-7989-2020-04-07. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Røed, Marianne; Schøne, Pål & Umblijs, Janis (2020). Robots and employment. Full text in Research Archive
• Østbakken, Kjersti Misje; Reisel, Liza & Barth, Erling (2019). Økt likestilling = mer frihet = mer likestilling i arbeidslivet. Likestillingsparadoksets død? Full text in Research Archive
• Reisel, Liza; Østbakken, Kjersti Misje & Barth, Erling (2019). The Equality Hurdle: Resolving the Welfare State Paradox of Gender Segregation. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Keute, Anna Lena; Schøne, Pål; Simson, Kristine von & Steffensen, Kjartan (2018). The Importance of Early and Later Skills among Youth: Evidence from Linked Register-PIAAC data. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Keute, Anna Lena; Schøne, Pål; Simson, Kristine von & Steffensen, Kjartan (2018). The Importance of Early and Later Skills among Youth: Evidence from Linked Register-PIAAC data. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Goldin, Claudia; Kerr, Sari Pekkala & Olivetti, Claudia (2017). The Average Mid-Forties Male College Graduate Earns 55% More Than His Female Counterparts. Harvard Business Review. 2017(06). Full text in Research Archive
• Reisel, Liza; Østbakken, Kjersti Misje; Barth, Erling; Schøne, Pål & Hardoy, Ines (2017). Occupational Segregation in Europe - Dissentangling the Role of Paid and Unpaid Work. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Moene, Karl Ove (2015). Likhetsmultiplikatoren: Lønn og politikk i velferdsstaten. Samfunnsøkonomen. p. 58–59. Full text in Research Archive
• Dale-Olsen, Harald; Bryson, Alex & Barth, Erling (2015). Do Unions Kill Innovation? Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling (2015). monopsonistic discrimination and the gender wage gap. In Durlauf, Steven N. & Blume, Lawrence E. (Ed.), The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Online Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling; Schøne, Pål & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2014). Hva betyr kjønnssegregering for lønn? In Reisel, Liza & Teigen, Mari (Ed.), Kjønnsdeling og etniske skiller på arbeidsmarkedet. Gyldendal Akademisk. p. 205–232. Full text in Research Archive
• Finseraas, Henning; Barth, Erling; Moene, Karl Ove & Østbakken, Kjersti Misje (2014). Insurance or redistribution motives? Behaviors and beliefs in the welfare state. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Moene, Karl Ove (2013). Globalization, labour market institutions and wage structure. Nordic Economic Policy Review. 1, p. 7–10. Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling (2012). Snur trenden for europeiske velferdsstater? Full text in Research Archive
• Barth, Erling & Simson, Kristine von (2012). Ungdomsarbeidsledighet og konjunkturer. Økonomiske analyser. p. 38–45. Full text in Research Archive

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