New evidence of salary discrimination in major league baseball

Salary discrimination in MLB has largely been discarded as a research topic. However traditional quantitative methods (particularly least squares regression) have concentrated on the effect of race for the average player. If only a particular salary class of players are subject to discrimination, or if the size of the discrimination is small at the average, then least-squares techniques will struggle to identify discrimination. I use quantile regression to uncover salary discrimination against black players in the lower half of the salary distribution. Not only are the premia for white and Hispanic players statistically significant, but they are large: up to 25% of salary for the bottom quintile of players.     

The speed of human capital formation in the baseball industry: the information value of minor‐league performance in predicting major‐league performance

Using a data set of well over 1200 different pitchers covering an almost 20‐year time period, this paper reveals that the process of human capital formation for professional baseball pitchers is relatively slow, rendering minor league statistics to be of limited value when projecting major league performance. This indicates that a considerable amount of the performance differences across pitchers at the major league level are revealed only after they reach the majors, and hence is unforeseen given their minor league statistics. These findings illustrate just how difficult it is for all organizations to predict the future success of their apprentice‐level employees. Even in an industry such as baseball—where employee output is easily measurable and highly quantifiable, and where the nature of the work at the developmental level is identical to that at the advanced level (i.e. pitching a baseball)—apprentice‐level performance only provides modest insights into how that employee will ultimately perform at the advanced level. Thus, firms that erroneously overestimate the importance of apprentice‐level performance are at risk of making systematic errors in personnel decisions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimating economic impacts of the US-South Korea free trade agreement

ABSTRACT

We analyze the economic impacts of the United States-South Korea Free Trade Agreement by applying the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) computable general equilibrium model to highly disaggregated commodity flow data. The analysis calculates the impacts in terms of welfare effects, national economic indicators (such as GDP), and business performance metrics (such as sales revenue), which can be used by a variety of decision-makers. Our results suggest several trade-offs among these measures. Positive welfare gains between the US and South Korea are about the same in absolute terms, but favor the latter in relative terms, and very heavily so for GDP gains. Moreover, the US is projected to incur a loss of gross output (sales revenue) in several major manufacturing sectors that are heavily concentrated in geographic areas that have been promised a return of jobs by the Trump Administration.     

Estimating the economic impacts of public spending in a sub-region: an econometric approach.

Expenditures on a public institution represent not only a cost to the taxpayer but an economic benefit to the region in which it is located. The economic impact on a region's income is here calculated through an econometric model and associated multipliers. The impact on government income tax recepits is similarly calculated. The tax revenues are also used in determining the net cost of operation of the institution. These calculations are performed for the expenditures associated with the new State University Hospital at Stony Brook, N.Y. located in the region formed by Nassau and Suffolk Countries. The regional income multiplier is found to be 1.64.     

Estimating the economic costs of organized crime by synthetic control methods

The economic costs of organized crime have been estimated for the case of southern Italy by Pinotti (Economic Journal 2015; 125, F203–F232, 2015): using synthetic control methods, he finds that, due to the advent of the Italian Mafia in the regions Apulia and Basilicata, GDP per capita dropped by 16%. Replicating this study in a narrow sense by estimating the same model with the same data, but using different software implementations, we observe minor differences stemming from the different implementations. By identifying the correct implementation, we find that the loss in GDP per capita due to the presence of the Mafia has been slightly overestimated.     

On the spatial economic impact of global warming

We propose a dynamic spatial theory to analyze the geographic impact of climate change. Agricultural and manufacturing firms locate on a hemisphere. Trade is costly, firms innovate, and technology diffuses over space. Emissions from energy used in production contribute to the atmospheric stock of carbon, which increases temperature. Warming differs across latitudes and its effect on productivity varies across sectors. We calibrate the model to analyze how climate change affects the spatial distribution of economic activity, trade, migration, growth, and welfare. We assess quantitatively the impact of migration and trade restrictions, energy taxes, and innovation subsidies.     

Assessing the impact of JIT using economic theory

This paper combines ideas that are well founded in the production and inventory management literature, with analytical approaches that have been long established in the economic theory literature, to reveal and explore production-function characteristic differences between JIT producers and non-JIT producers among electronic firms in Ontario, Canada. The methodology employed is the estimation of the CES-TL total cost system. Our primary conclusion is that JIT firms are more cost-efficient and appear to be distinct from the non-JIT group. This conclusion is supported by: (1) the fact that, in most cases, the elasticities calculated from the two groups of firms are significantly different; (2) the fact that the cost elasticity with respect to output is lower for the JIT firms than for the non-JIT firms, indicating that the former are better able to capture economies of scale and density; (3) the difference between the elasticities of factor productivity, with respect to output changes, shows the JIT firms as being more labor- and materials-saving than the non-JIT firms.     

Estimating the economic return to educational levels using data on twins

This paper relaxes some restrictions of previous twin‐based estimates of the effects of education on earnings. First, it estimates the earnings premiums associated with different educational levels. Second, it estimates a piecewise linear relationship between the natural logarithm of annual earnings and years of schooling. Third, the measurement error corrections are based on a less restrictive, ‘non‐classical’, measurement error model. The estimation strategy implies that ability bias can be investigated separately in different parts of the educational distribution. The linear relationship between the logarithm of annual earnings and years of schooling is rejected. Furthermore, the results in the sample of identical (MZ) twins indicated both that the ability bias could be of different signs and of different magnitudes in different parts of the educational distribution. The twin‐based estimates in the sample of fraternal (DZ) twins did not display any marked differences as compared to the cross‐sectional estimates. Finally, the results indicated that the error‐corrected twin‐based estimates of the average return to years of schooling that rely on a classical measurement error model are upwards biased by approximately 30%. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimating production frontiers and efficiency when output is a discretely distributed economic bad

This article studies the estimation of production frontiers and efficiency scores when the commodity of interest is an economic bad with a discrete distribution. Existing parametric econometric techniques (stochastic frontier methods) assume that output is a continuous random variable but, if output is discretely distributed, then one faces a scenario of model misspecification. Therefore a new class of econometric models has been developed to overcome this problem. The Delaporte subclass of models is studied in detail, and tests of hypotheses are proposed to discriminate among parametric models. In particular, Pearson’s chi-squared test is adapted to construct a new kernel-based consistent Pearson test. A Monte Carlo experiment evaluates the merits of the new model and methods, and these are used to estimate the frontier and efficiency scores of the production of infant deaths in England. Extensions to the model are discussed.     

The economic impact of the information sector in Singapore

The information sector, delineated as encompassing activities associated with the production and dissemination of information goods and services, is recognised as a dynamic growth sector in developed as well as newly-industrialising countries. Using an input-output methodology, this paper attempts to measure the magnitude and assess the economic impact of the information sector in Singapore. The results are found to be favourable although a number of caveats may be raised regarding its apparent import dependency and foreign exchange earning capability, which has turned from positive to negative over the ten-year period 1973–83. Other issues are also raised concerning the institutional framework, both domestic and international, necessary to support the sector both efficiently and flexibly. Policy implications are drawn from the results of the input-output analysis to consolidate and reinforce current policies to promote information technology in Singapore.     

The impact of sports ethics of professional baseball player to the development of sports industry in Taiwan

Once countries develop economically to a certain degree, they typically develop sports industries to further improve the welfare of their citizens and to stimulate further economic development. The successful development of sports industries, however, is affected by the impact of many environmental factors. The Enron scandal has caused ethical topics to become a subject of worldwide focus. This paper studies Taiwanese professional baseball to examine how ethical factors impact the survival and development of baseball teams. In reality, the operation of professional baseball is primarily affected by the impact of the ethical views of players as well as cultural environmental factors. These factors interact to form a complex and dynamic system. This study uses system dynamics to examine the systemic structure of the development of Taiwanese professional baseball. We present a dynamic model for the development of professional baseball and examine the impact of sports ethics and societal gambling trends on the development of professional baseball in Taiwan, and then discuss relevant topics.     

Estimating the impact of social isolation on subjective health in Europe

Quality & Quantity - We investigate the relationship between social isolation and subjective health, considering that this relationship is potentially affected by endogeneity due to the...     

我国收入分配差距扩大对经济运行的影响

现阶段,我国的城乡居民、东西部地区收入差距呈现拉大的形势,收入分配问题已成为不可忽视的重要性议题,党和政府高度重视收入分配问题并提出了一系列改革措施。文中主要是分析了收入分配现状及其产生的相关原因,收入差距扩大对中国经济的影响及所采取的基本对策。     

Estimating an economic model of crime using panel data from North Carolina

This paper replicates the Cornwell and Trumbull ( 1994 ) estimation of a crime model using panel data on 90 counties in North Carolina over the period 1981–1987. While the Between and Within estimates are replicated, the fixed effects 2SLS as well as the 2SLS estimates are not. In fact, the fixed effects 2SLS estimates turn out to be insignificant for all important deterrent variables as well as legal opportunity variables. We argue that the usual Hausman test, based on the difference between fixed effects and random effects, may lead to misleading inference when endogenous variables of the conventional simultaneous equation type are among the regressors. We estimate the model using random effects 2SLS and perform a Hausman test based on the difference between fixed effects 2SLS and random effects 2SLS. We cannot reject the consistency of the random effects 2SLS estimator and this estimator yields plausible and significant estimates of the crime model. This result should be tempered by the legitimacy of the chosen instruments. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimating the impact of regional policy: A review of applied research methods

This paper provides a critical review of the methodological approaches that have been used to estimate the impacts of regional economic policies. A considerable variety of approaches are examined, ranging from questionnaire studies through single- and multiple-equation regression models to cost-benefits analysis, and attention is focused on the pros and cons of these approaches and the reliability of the impact assessments derived. The paper concludes with some suggestions for further research in this field.     

Applicability of a spatial computable general equilibrium model to assess the short-term economic impact of natural disasters

Computable general equilibrium (CGE) models have been widely used to assess the economic impact of natural disasters, but the models have not been fully validated by applying them to real disasters. This study focuses on validating a model for use in a short-run case in which the functional recovery of infrastructure and businesses occurred on a time scale of a few months. A special attempt is made to determine the parameter values of elasticity of substitutions, which play an important role in the effect on supply chains. In this study, a spatial CGE model, in which Japan is divided into nine regions, is constructed and applied to the case of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Through this application, the best estimates of the elasticity parameters generated relatively consistent estimates of production change compared with the observed change, both in severely affected regions and in other regions.     

The economic impact of lockdowns: A theoretical assessment

The sudden appearance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered extreme and open-ended “lockdowns” to manage the disease. Should these drastic interventions be the blueprint for future epidemics? We construct an analytical framework, based on the theory of random matching, which makes explicit how epidemics spread through economic activity. Imposing lockdowns by assumption not only prevents contagion and reduces healthcare costs, but also disrupts income-generation processes. We characterize how lockdowns impact the contagion process and social welfare. Numerical analysis suggests that protracted, open-ended lockdowns are generally suboptimal, bringing into question the policy responses seen in many countries.     

区域经济一体化及其对国际贸易发展的影响

区域经济一体化作为国家或地区实行某种经济联合的过程 ,在第二次世界大战后得到迅速发展。区域经济一体化对国际贸易的增长、贸易格局、商品结构、国际市场竞争和国际贸易体制都产生较大影响。     

Estimating the Derivative of a Convex Density

We obtain a relation between the time between two bird-catchings and the total resting period of a bird, leading to the problem of estimating the derivative of a convex density. We state a fundamental result on the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator of a convex density. Further, we derive the optimal rate in the minimax risk sense for estimating the derivative of a convex density.