DOES SMALL DAM REMOVAL AFFECT LOCAL PROPERTY VALUES? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

This paper uses hedonic analysis to examine the impact of small dam removal on property values in south-central Wisconsin. Data on residential property sales were obtained for three categories of sites: those where a small dam remains intact, those where a small dam was removed, and those where a river or stream has been free-flowing for at least 20 yr. The primary conclusions that emerge from the data are that shoreline frontage along small impoundments confers no increase in residential property value compared to frontage along free-flowing streams and that nonfrontage residential property located in the vicinity of a free-flowing stream is more valuable than similar nonfrontage property in the vicinity of a small impoundment. ( JEL Q2, Q25, Q5, Q51)     

MONETARY POLICY AND INEQUALITY: HOW DOES ONE AFFECT THE OTHER?

This article studies a labor-supply-side channel affecting the relationship between monetary policy and income inequality. To this end, I build a heterogeneous-agent New Keynesian economy with indivisible labor in which both macro and micro labor supply elasticities are endogenously generated. First, I find that monetary policy shocks have distributional consequences due to a substantial heterogeneity in labor supply elasticity across households. Second, a more equal economy is associated with more effective monetary policy in terms of output. I document supporting empirical evidence for the key mechanism of the model using microlevel data and state-level data in the United States.     

SOCIAL COMPARISON AND SUBJECTIVE WELL‐BEING: DOES THE HEALTH OF OTHERS MATTER?

The importance of social comparison in shaping individual utility has been widely documented by subjective well‐being literature. So far, income and unemployment have been the main dimensions considered in social comparison. This paper aims to investigate whether subjective well‐being is influenced by inter‐personal comparison with respect to health. Thus, we study the effects of the health of others and relative health hypotheses on two measures of subjective well‐being: happiness and subjective health. Using data from the Italian Health Conditions survey, we show that a high incidence of chronic conditions and disability among reference groups negatively affects both happiness and subjective health. Such effects are stronger among people in the same condition. These results, robust to different econometric specifications and estimation techniques, suggest the presence of some sympathy in individual preferences with respect to health and reveal that other people's health status serves as a benchmark to assess one's own health condition.     

HOW DOES FOREIGN BANK OWNERSHIP IN THE BANKING SECTOR AFFECT DOMESTIC BANK BEHAVIOUR? A DYNAMIC PANEL DATA ANALYSIS

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how foreign bank ownership in the banking sector affects domestic bank behaviour and whether this relationship depends on the economic and financial conditions of the host country. This paper contains 795 individual banks in 39 countries covering the period 1999–2006. Foreign ownership is calculated using bank level data as a proxy for the degree of foreign bank ownership in the banking sector. First, we find that foreign bank ownership is associated with a decrease in both the profitability and overhead expenses of the domestic bank after applying the system panel Generalized Method of Moments model. Second, a lower level of economic development of the host country enhances the positive effects of foreign bank ownership on the income, profit and cost of domestic banks. Third, financial development plays an important role in determining the effect of foreign bank ownership. Fourth, while the use of aggregate foreign ownership data may provide us with a big picture, it may not explain why individual banks in the same country perform differently, which this study will answer.     

EMPLOYER‐PROVIDED HEALTH INSURANCE AND JOB MOBILITY: DID THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT REDUCE JOB LOCK?

Many have argued that concerns over health insurance reduce labor market mobility in the United States, causing a “job lock” effect. We take advantage of the novel natural experiment created by the Affordable Care Act's dependent coverage mandate to estimate the magnitude of the job lock effect for young adults. Using the 2008–2013 Current Population Survey and a difference‐in‐difference research design, we find that the expansion of dependent coverage did not increase job mobility, suggesting that job lock is not a major concern for young adults. (JEL J62, I13, I18)     

DOES SPENDING MORE ON TOBACCO CONTROL PROGRAMS MAKE ECONOMIC SENSE? AN INCREMENTAL BENEFIT‐COST ANALYSIS USING PANEL DATA

This paper presents a benefit‐cost analysis of the ongoing, state‐level tobacco prevention and control programs in the United States. Using state‐level panel data for the years 1991–2007, the study applies several variants of econometric modeling approaches to estimate the state‐level tobacco demand. The paper finds a statistically significant evidence of a sustained and steadily increasing long‐run impact of the tobacco control program spending on cigarette demand in states. The study also shows that, if individual states follow the Best Practices funding guidelines, potential future annual benefits of the tobacco control program can be as high as 14–20 times the cost of program implementation. (JEL C2, H5, I1)     

DOES EDUCATION LOAN DEBT INFLUENCE HOUSEHOLD FINANCIAL DISTRESS? AN ASSESSMENT USING THE 2007–2009 SURVEY OF CONSUMER FINANCES PANEL

Families with student loans in 2007 have higher levels of financial distress than families without such loans, and these families also transitioned to financial distress at higher rates during the early stages of the Great Recession. This correlation persists once we control for a host of other demographic, work‐status, and household balance sheet measures. Families with an average level of student loans were 3.1 percentage points more likely to be 60 days late paying bills and 3 percentage points more likely to be denied credit. Families with other types of consumer debt were no more or less likely to be financially distressed. (JEL D14, H81, I22)     

HOW DO HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES IN JAPAN COMPETE FOR REGULAR,FULL‐TIME JOBS? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS BASED UPON AN INTERNET SURVEY OF THE YOUTH*

We use a survey of Japanese youth within 10 years after high school graduation to investigate impacts of academic and social skills on their success in the job market. We find three major factors account for the job market outcome immediately after school: school characteristics and job‐placement services, academic performance, and social skills, including negative impacts of problematic behaviors at school. Second, when we run a probit regression on whether or not the surveyed individuals hold regular, full‐time jobs, we find the persistent but declining (over age) impact of the job placement immediately after school. Moreover, we find that the impact of variables pertaining to social skills remain significant even after controlling for the job‐placement outcome after school, whereas other variables, such as grade point average or attributes of high schools, are largely irrelevant to the current employment status.