Essays on Risk, Privatization and Regulated Markets

Sammanfattning: This dissertation contains three essays on the theme of risk, privatization, and regulated markets. In the first chapter, the author analyzes the deregulation of the Swedish pharmacy market. Of specific interest is how the market expands and the chains' decisions on opening new stores. The second chapter is joint work between the author and his supervisor Professor Richard Friberg. They consider a monopolistic competition model with heterogeneous firms and analyze how competition affects the firms' risk-taking. Using the model, the consequences for the economy of voluntary insurance are compared with mandating it. The third chapter studies the use of private providers in welfare services such as elderly care. The author models the trade-off between possible cost reductions and innovations against the loss of control from introducing competition. The conclusions are then evaluated using data from in-home services for the elderly in Sweden. The dissertation aims to add to the understanding of the specific markets studied and provide insight into how market outcomes are shaped by regulation.