Henrik Kleven image

Henrik Kleven

10 Votes

Princeton

  • Princeton, New Jersey

About

  • Professor of Economics
  • Director of the CEPR Program in Public Economics (2014 – present)
  • European Research Council Grant Awarded in 2016
  • Chief Editor of the Journal of Public Economics (2014 – present)

Voting History

Europe

‘Getting Brexit Done’

Question A: Following the UK election result, the certainty that the country is going to leave the European Union will provide a substantial short-term boost to the UK economy.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
7
Question B: Given that the transition period currently expires at the end of 2020, there is still a considerable risk that the UK will leave the European Union without a trade agreement.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question C: Leaving the European Union without a trade agreement would have a large negative impact on the UK economy.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question A: Under current policies on climate change, the associated physical risks (such as those arising from total seasonal rainfall and sea level changes, and increased frequency, severity, and correlation of extreme weather events) will be at most a very small factor in monetary policy decisions over the next decade.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
6
Question B: The physical risks associated with climate change under current policies are likely to threaten financial stability over the next decade.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
6
Europe

Research and Development

Question A: Europeans would benefit more from an extra €1 billion of public R&D spent through existing (public) channels than from an extra €1 billion of private R&D spent through existing (private) channels, all else equal.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
Question B: Europeans would benefit more from an extra €1 billion of public medical research spent through existing (public) channels than from an extra €1 billion of private medical research spent through existing (private) channels, all else equal.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
Question A: Randomized control trials are a valuable tool for answering some long unsettled questions in development economics research.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question B: Randomized control trials are a valuable tool for making significant progress in poverty reduction.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Europe

Stakeholder Capitalism

Question A: Having companies run to maximize shareholder value creates significant negative externalities for workers and communities.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
7
Question B: Appropriately managed corporations could create significantly greater value than they currently do for a range of stakeholders – including workers, suppliers, customers and community members – with small impacts on shareholder value.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
6
Question C:
Effective mechanisms for boards of directors to ensure that CEOs act in ways that balance the interests of all stakeholders would be straightforward to introduce.

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Did Not Answer
Disagree
6
Question A:

Rising inequality is straining the health of liberal democracy.

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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question B: Enacting more redistributive expenditures and policies would be likely to limit the rise of populism in Europe.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
7
Question C: European governments should allocate more resources to policies that would be likely to limit the rise of populism in Europe, even if it means higher public debt or lower public spending in other areas.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question A:

At this point, there is little that the European Central Bank can do to increase or maintain output in the Eurozone.

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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
7
Question B: When the economy is operating below its potential, larger fiscal deficits are likely to increase demand and output.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question C: When the economy is operating below its potential and monetary policy is at the effective lower bound, fiscal policy should prioritize increasing output over decreasing public debt.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
7
Europe

ECB Appointments

Question A:

Selecting candidates for membership of the ECB Executive Board based primarily on nationality ahead of competence is likely to have a negative effect on the quality of monetary policy in the Eurozone.

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Did Not Answer
Agree
8
Question B: Although the central bank can never be an entirely technocratic institution, the selection process for the ECB President and members of the Executive Board is significantly worsened by intergovernmental trade-offs involving appointments to other European institutions.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
8

On bids for infrastructure projects, the average European would be better off if Europe’s governments favored European firms over Chinese firms (or firms from any other country with non-profit-related geopolitical strategies) — even if it means sometimes choosing a higher-cost bidder.

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Did Not Answer
Disagree
5
Question A: Breaking the “doom loop” — a negative spiral that can result when banks hold sovereign bonds and governments bail out banks — would increase the stability of European economies in the event of another financial crisis.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
8
Question B: Regulators should try to break the doom loop by assigning positive risk weights — in calculating banks’ capital requirements — to banks’ holdings of domestic and other Eurozone sovereign bonds.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
8
Question C: Breaking the doom loop would impose substantial costs on powerful political constituencies.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
8
Europe

Gentrification

Residents of big European cities would be better off, on balance, if governments did more to counter gentrification, for example by using rent and other housing subsidies, public housing investments, zoning regulations, or similar policies.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
5
Question A: A common European deposit insurance scheme, once fully implemented, would increase the stability of European economies in the event of another financial crisis.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
8
Question B: A common European deposit insurance scheme, once fully implemented, would increase the likelihood of another financial crisis in Europe.
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Did Not Answer
Strongly Disagree
8
Question A: Overall, public spending on the arts in Europe creates benefits that exceed the deadweight loss caused by taxation to fund it.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
Question B: Additional public spending on the arts in Europe would create incremental benefits that exceed the deadweight loss caused by taxation to fund it.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
Europe

European Champions

Question A: The average European is better off if Europe’s competition authorities let firms merge into European champions in their sectors, even it weakens competition.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
7
Question B: If China and other countries use policies that create giant international firms, then the average European is better off if Europe's competition authorities let firms merge into European champions in their sectors, even it weakens competition.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
6
Europe

Quarterly Earnings

Question A: Letting publicly traded European firms report earnings annually rather than quarterly would lead their executives to place more weight on long-term issues in their investments and other decisions.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
Question B: A switch from quarterly to annual earnings reports would, on net, benefit shareholders of European firms.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
Europe

Social Responsibility

Question A: To the extent that public corporations pursue social and environmental initiatives, they tend to achieve higher risk-adjusted (private) returns than otherwise similar corporations that pursue such initiatives less.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
5
Question B: To the extent that Norway’s global government pension fund makes investments for social and environmental objectives — apart from investments that would bring the highest expected risk-adjusted returns — it improves the welfare of Norwegians.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
5
Europe

EU Fiscal Rules

Question A: The fiscal rules of the European Union should give more flexibility to member countries.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
6
Question B: The Italian budget for 2019 that the European Commission rejected in October would have increased Italy’s risk of fiscal insolvency substantially.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question C: If France runs a 2019 budget deficit of around 3.4% of GDP, as announced by President Macron’s government, France’s risk of fiscal insolvency will increase substantially.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
6
Europe

Ride-Sharing Caps

Question A: Capping the number of ride-sharing drivers as is being discussed in New York City, Chicago and London will make the average resident in that city worse off.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
7
Question B:
To achieve a given level of congestion, it would be better to use taxes for driving that vary based on the level of congestion, rather than limiting the number of ride-sharing vehicles.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
8
People who migrated to Europe between 2015 and 2018 are likely — over the next two decades — to contribute more in taxes paid than they receive in benefits and public services.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
6
Europe

Increasing Returns

Ideas are nonrival, so increasing returns to scale is an essential feature of technological change in a market economy.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Voters overestimate the effect that current governments have on their economies’ concurrent economic performance.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Europe

Autonomous Cars

Over the next decade, autonomous cars will raise average welfare in the EU by at least as much as smartphones have over the past decade.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
5
Britain’s Labour party recently proposed giving the Bank of England a target of 3% annual labor productivity growth. Consider the following statement:
Central banks cannot significantly increase productivity growth over a ten year horizon, except perhaps by promoting macroeconomic stability.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
8
Europe

Digital Sales Tax

Question A: The European Commission has proposed new rules to ensure that “digital business activities are taxed in a fair and growth-friendly way in the EU”. Consider two statements regarding this proposal:

An EU-wide 3% tax on revenue from digital activities would, on balance, be a good idea.

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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
Question B:
If the EU decides to tax digital service providers, it would be better — given the difficulties of measuring and verifying digital activity — to tax them on the revenue, rather than the profits, that they generate locally.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
The European Union often uses its antitrust powers to protect EU-based firms from international competition, rather than to promote greater competition in European markets.
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Did Not Answer
Strongly Disagree
6
Europe

China-Europe Trade

Question A: Trade with China makes most Europeans better off because, among other advantages, they can buy goods that are made or assembled more cheaply in China.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
8
Question B: Some Europeans who work in the production of competing goods, such as clothing and furniture, are made worse off by trade with China.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question C: If the EU followed the new US steel tariffs by imposing similar EU tariffs on steel from China, it would improve Europeans’ welfare.
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Did Not Answer
Strongly Disagree
7
Europe

Greece

Question A: Assuming it exits its third bailout program this summer without an immediate restructuring or other debt relief, Greece is unlikely to default on its sovereign debt in the coming decade.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
6
Question B: Greece would be better off if it had decided to exit the euro between 2011 and 2015.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
7
Question C: If Greece had defaulted on (or restructured) its private debt in 2010, while also staying within the euro, that combination would have been better for Greece than either exiting the euro or proceeding as it has actually done.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Europe

Bitcoins

Question A: Bitcoins are more similar to gold than they are to currency.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
7
Question B: Bitcoins are more similar to gold than they are to Dutch tulips in the 1630s.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
6
The US spends roughly 17% of GDP on healthcare, according to the OECD; most European countries spend less than 12% of GDP.

Higher quality-adjusted US healthcare prices contribute relatively more to the extra US spending than does the combination of higher quantity and quality of US care (interpreting quantity and quality to reflect both greater American healthcare needs due to underlying population health and the delivery of more or better healthcare services to Americans).
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
6
Over the past two years, all else equal, the appeal of the US as a destination for immigrants has changed in ways that will likely decrease innovation in the US economy.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question A:

Holding other policies fixed, the average European would be better off if every European country taxed corporate profits at a rate of 20% (based as closely as possible on a common definition of profits).

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Did Not Answer
Disagree
6
Question B: If other policies were held fixed and every European country taxed corporate profits at a common rate of 20%, then reducing that common rate substantially below 20% would make the average European better off.
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Did Not Answer
Strongly Disagree
6
Europe

Board Quotas for Women

Question A: All else equal, if corporations throughout Europe set quotas for a minimum number of women board members, the shareholder value of European companies would increase.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
Question B: Taking into account the likely effects on investments in human capital by men and women, setting quotas throughout Europe for a minimum number of women board members would generate substantial net benefits for Europeans.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
Europe

Energy Sources

Question A: Subsidizing renewable energy sources is better than taxing fossil fuels, assuming the subsidy or tax would be set at levels that would reduce carbon emissions by an equivalent amount.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
6
Question B: Germany’s solar-energy subsidies to date have produced net social benefits for Germany.
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Did Not Answer
Disagree
5
Question C: Solar-energy subsidies to date in Germany and other countries have produced net social benefits for the world.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
5
Europe

Behavioral Economics

Insights from psychology about individual behavior – examples of which include limited rationality, low self-control, or a taste for fairness – predict several important types of observed market outcomes that fully-rational economic models do not.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
8
Europe

Refugees in Germany

The influx of refugees into Germany beginning in the summer of 2015 will generate net economic benefits for German citizens over the succeeding decade.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
6
Question A: Holding labor market institutions and job training fixed, rising use of robots and artificial intelligence is likely to increase substantially the number of workers in advanced countries who are unemployed for long periods.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
6
Question B: Rising use of robots and artificial intelligence in advanced countries is likely to create benefits large enough that they could be used to compensate those workers who are substantially negatively affected for their lost wages.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
6
Europe

Ride Sharing

Question A: Consumers will be better off, on balance, if European cities treat firms that provide ride-sharing platforms (such as Uber) as substantively different from taxi firms, and thus not necessarily warranting the same regulation.
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Uncertain
5
Uncertain
6
Question B: Assuming that taxi and ride-sharing companies were treated as substantively similar — including requirements that they operate on an equal footing regarding safety, insurance and taxation — letting ride-sharing services compete without restrictions on prices or routes would raise consumer welfare.
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Strongly Agree
7
Agree
7
Question C: Regardless of how ride-sharing services are treated, existing regulations for traditional taxi firms in many European cities harm consumers by limiting competition.
Vote Confidence Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Strongly Agree
7
Agree
7
Question A: Revising France’s labor market policies — by reducing employment protection, decentralizing labor negotiations to the firm level, and making training programs more accessible and responsive to labor demands — would, all else equal, increase productivity in France’s economy.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question B: Reducing employment protection would reduce the equilibrium unemployment rate in France.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Europe

ECB Asset Purchases

Question A: The ECB's asset purchases over the past two years have reduced the threat of deflation in the euro area as a whole.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question B: If the economic outlook in the euro area becomes less favorable, then increasing the ECB's asset purchase program (in size or duration) would substantially increase the euro area's economic growth over the following five years.
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Did Not Answer
Uncertain
6
Europe

Diversified Investing

In general, absent any inside information, an equity investor can expect to do better by holding a well-diversified, low-fee, passive index fund than by holding a few stocks.
Vote Confidence Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Strongly Agree
7
Strongly Agree
9
Europe

Aging

Question A: Without changes in policy, a rising share of people who are over age 65 will exert a substantial downward influence on per capita real GDP in western European countries.
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Uncertain
6
Agree
7
Comment: There are negative effects, but it also depends on the reasons for the rising dependency ratio (e.g. better health is good for growth)
Question B: In European countries where the share of those over 65 is rising, there are net social benefits to adjusting retirement ages for state-financed (including pay-as-you-go) pension systems upwards, so that revised retirement ages better reflect longer life expectancies.
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Strongly Agree
7
Agree
8
Europe

City of London

Question A: All else equal, there are substantial advantages to having much of Europe’s human capital and infrastructure for international financial activity clustered in a single city, as they are at present in London.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Question B: All else equal, Britain’s rules on hiring, firing and working hours are significantly more conducive to financial activity than those in other large European countries.
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Did Not Answer
Agree
7
Europe

Italy’s Banks

Question A: Setting the EU rules aside, and assuming it would take 2.5% of Italy’s GDP to recapitalize its banks, the Italian government would improve financial stability in Europe if it injected this amount of public funds into its banks.
Vote Confidence Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Uncertain
5
Agree
7
Question B: If Italy were to inject public funds into its banks without imposing losses on at least some claimants, an important cost would be the effect on future incentives (economic or political) in Europe.
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Agree
4
Agree
8
Europe

Brexit

Question A: Because of the Brexit vote's outcome, the UK's real per-capita income level is likely to be lower a decade from now than it would have been otherwise.
Vote Confidence Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree
5
Agree
8
Question B: Because of the Brexit vote's outcome, the rest of the EU's real per-capita income level is likely to be lower a decade from now than it would have been otherwise.
Vote Confidence Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Uncertain
6
Agree
7
Europe

Congestion Pricing

In general, using more congestion charges in crowded transportation networks — such as higher tolls during peak travel times in cities, and peak fees for airplane takeoff and landing slots — and using the proceeds to lower other taxes would make citizens on average better off.
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Strongly Agree
9
Strongly Agree
8
On the whole, the shift from state to private ownership of many industrial assets in central and eastern European countries after communism has increased productivity in those countries.
Vote Confidence Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree
5
Strongly Agree
8
Europe

Trade Within Europe

Question A: Freer movement of goods and services across borders within Europe has made the average western European citizen better off since the 1980s.
Vote Confidence Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Strongly Agree
9
Strongly Agree
8
Question B: Freer movement of goods and services across borders within Europe has made many low-skilled western European citizens worse off since the 1980s.
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Uncertain
8
Disagree
7
Europe

Local Tax Incentives

Question A: Giving tax incentives to specific firms to locate operations in a country typically generates domestic benefits that outweigh the costs to the country providing the incentives.
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Uncertain
9
Uncertain
6
Comment: Cannot be answered without information on exact tax parameters & conclusive estimates of firm location elasticities (which aren't available)
Question B: Europe as a whole benefits when European cities or countries compete with each other by giving tax incentives to firms to locate operations in their jurisdictions.
Vote Confidence Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Strongly Disagree
9
Disagree
7
Europe

Migration Within Europe

Question A: Freer movement of people to live and work across borders within Europe has made the average western European citizen better off since the 1980s.
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Strongly Agree
6
Agree
8
Question B: Freer movement of people to live and work across borders within Europe has made many low-skilled western European citizens worse off since the 1980s.
Vote Confidence Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Uncertain
8
Disagree
6