The Social Cost of Efficiency? New Public Management, Crime and Unemployment in Sweden
(2025) NEKH04 20251Department of Economics
- Abstract
- This paper examines whether Sweden's shift towards New Public Management (NPM) has
affected unemployment and crime rates at the municipal level. Using panel data from 290
Swedish municipalities (1995–2021) and a regression discontinuity design, I test whether
left-wing governance (as a proxy for lower NPM adoption) impacts these social outcomes.
Results show that narrower left-wing coalition governance (Social Democrats+Left Party)
significantly reduces unemployment in the short term, while broader left-wing governance
(including the Green Party) shows no significant effect on unemployment but is associated with
increased crime rates over time. The relationship between unemployment and crime showed
mixed results. These findings... (More) - This paper examines whether Sweden's shift towards New Public Management (NPM) has
affected unemployment and crime rates at the municipal level. Using panel data from 290
Swedish municipalities (1995–2021) and a regression discontinuity design, I test whether
left-wing governance (as a proxy for lower NPM adoption) impacts these social outcomes.
Results show that narrower left-wing coalition governance (Social Democrats+Left Party)
significantly reduces unemployment in the short term, while broader left-wing governance
(including the Green Party) shows no significant effect on unemployment but is associated with
increased crime rates over time. The relationship between unemployment and crime showed
mixed results. These findings suggest that ideological governance approaches have measurable
socioeconomic consequences, with implications for understanding the long-term effects of
market-oriented public sector reforms in the Swedish context. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9196038
- author
- Klose, Elias LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NEKH04 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Unemployment, Crime, New Public Management
- language
- English
- id
- 9196038
- date added to LUP
- 2025-09-12 09:22:58
- date last changed
- 2025-09-12 09:22:58
@misc{9196038, abstract = {{This paper examines whether Sweden's shift towards New Public Management (NPM) has affected unemployment and crime rates at the municipal level. Using panel data from 290 Swedish municipalities (1995–2021) and a regression discontinuity design, I test whether left-wing governance (as a proxy for lower NPM adoption) impacts these social outcomes. Results show that narrower left-wing coalition governance (Social Democrats+Left Party) significantly reduces unemployment in the short term, while broader left-wing governance (including the Green Party) shows no significant effect on unemployment but is associated with increased crime rates over time. The relationship between unemployment and crime showed mixed results. These findings suggest that ideological governance approaches have measurable socioeconomic consequences, with implications for understanding the long-term effects of market-oriented public sector reforms in the Swedish context.}}, author = {{Klose, Elias}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{The Social Cost of Efficiency? New Public Management, Crime and Unemployment in Sweden}}, year = {{2025}}, }